Pokémon:Zeta Advance
by XYZ the Wordsmith
Summary: George, a Pokémon Master, is fed up with the new leadership of the Pokémon World League and The Pokémon Master Council. So he disguises himself as an ordinary trainer, and takes a little vacation in Hoenn. He soon meets new friends and travel companions who remind him what being a Pokémon trainer's really about. This story mainly focuses on original characters.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or any other brand, artist, or product I mention in this story! That should about cover it.

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 1:Αlpha Reunion

"Do you solemnly swear to lead others with wisdom, courage, and kindness?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to act as a shield to protect the innocent, and as a sword to punish the guilty?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to protect Pokémon from those who would use their power for evil?"

"I swear!"

"Then I, Atticus Argentinem, dub you, George Steinkreuz, a Pokémon Master." As I rose from the ground, I heard a deafening roar from the crowd. At seventeen, I was one of the youngest trainers to ever become a master.

I opened my eyes, and saw the branches and leaves of the tree I was napping under. Typical, I thought as I gazed at the green canopy overhead, trying to get a glimpse of the late morning sky. I finally get a break from the council, and they send me on a field mission.

"Vee?" I sat up, and looked at the small, fluffy creature that was my partner Pokémon.

"It's nothing, Eevee. I just wish that, for once, our vacation would stay a vacation." I told it.

"Eevee-vee!"

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one carrying everything! Plus you ride on my shoulder two-thirds of the time!" We both laughed, and Eevee soon jumped up onto my shoulder, as usual.

Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is George Steinkreuz, thirteenth Pokémon Master of the Pokémon Master Olympian Council. I'm about 6'2, brown hair, blue eyes, semi-tanned skin, yadda-yadda. I have an athletic build, but the tabloids say I'm "so shredded, fangirl-drool turns to steam just by being near him!" That shit? Mm-mm. I'm not that hot.

As far as being able to understand Eevee, that comes in two parts. Firstly, Eevee and I have been partners and best friends since I was eight, when his egg hatched. Secondly, I have a special aura that allows me to understand the speech of Pokémon. My powers may not be as well tuned as an actual aura guardian, but I can do basic stuff, like summoning and manipulating aura energy in different forms, a bit of telekinesis, stuff like that.

I walked around the tiny interregional port town known as "Seewea Town" in the Hoenn region. It's essentially a giant seaport with shops, cafés, restaurants, and a residential section toward the edge of town for everyday employees and a luxury hotel for VIPs and ship captains to stay the night. They had recently opened a Poké Center, which is where I was headed.

"Let's see... The Poké Center should be right next to... The Harley shop, huh? Shouldn't be too hard to find, then!" I said cheerfully. Eevee nodded in agreement.

I walked away from the directory board, and not two seconds later, did I hear the most terrifying thing a celebrity could hear. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Oh no... I thought. I slowly turned my head to see a massive army of... Fangirls.

"OMYGODOMYGODOMYGOD! IT'S REALLY HIM!"

"WE ARE, LIKE, YOUR BIGGEST FANS EVER!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ACTUALLY MEETING YOU IN PERSON!"

I did the only thing I could think of in this situation. "Listen, girls," I said, smiling nervously. "I'd love to sign autographs, take pictures, and give hugs any other time, but I'm actually here on official Council business, so... Another time, maybe?" I felt the sweat roll down my face, hoping they'd buy it and leave.

"We're not leaving until I get my shirt signed!"

"And I get my picture with you!"

"And I get some of your hair!" Shit. What else could I do? I started running as fast as I could, my "fan club" close on my heels.

"Eevee! I need a wall!"

"Vee!" Eevee jumped off of my shoulder and used Double Team to create a vast number of duplicates. The duplicates then got on top of one another, and linked their paws and tails to form a wall. The real Eevee started running at my side.

"Good work! Now we have a little extra time!" I exclaimed. Eevee is unique in his Double Team. From months of special training, Eevee learned how to make actual clones of himself rather than just illusions. Then, we learned how to use this ability to create special combo techniques in battle.

By the time we reached the Poké Center, we were both out of breath. We quickly got inside, and I made a B-line for the changing rooms. I had to get out of my uniform. Why even have uniforms? I thought as I quickly dropped the leather duster from my shoulders. If Atticus was still in charge, we wouldn't.

When I stepped out of the changing room, I was wearing a gray zip-up hoodie with blue flame patterns on the ends of the sleeves and just under my left shoulder next to the zipper, where a blue Harley Davidson logo was emblazoned on the jacket. On the back was the logo for the Harley shop I got it from, over by Pike's Peak. Underneath of the hoodie, I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt from the same Harley shop. It, too, had blue flames on the sleeves and the front, with a much larger blue Harley Davidson emblem.

I was also wearing a gray hat with a red, white, and blue shield with "USA" at the top, and "2012" on one side of the bill. A hat showing support for the Unova Olympic team. I put my hood up, and Eevee climbed up into it. Eevee didn't like going into his Pokéball, so I never forced him to.

"Okay," I said lowly, "Once things settle down a bit, and we'll head towards Littleroot."

"Eevee."

Luckily, the road to Littleroot Town was empty. Very few people went to Littleroot Town from Seewea Town, as it had a direct road to Petalburg City. I pulled a candy bar out of my pocket, opened it, and split it in half.

"Here you go, Eevee," I said as I gave Eevee the bigger half. "Nurse Joy said that this kind of candy bar's okay for both people and Pokémon to eat, and I know we didn't get a chance to eat while we were there." Eevee happily took the food and started eating. I smiled, and took a bite of my own piece. It was made with honey, so naturally, that's what it tasted like. We both finished the candy bar quickly, hoping it'd tide us over until we got to town. I decided to contact an old friend while I was in Hoenn, so I brought my wrist up, and fiddled with the device on it.

The device was a Poketch 2. It had a sleeker design than the older model, came in a variety of colors, and had many more downloadable apps. I opened the messaging app, and started typing. That's when I walked into a trainer. Literally. And we both hit the dirt.

"Aaaggghhh! Hey! Watch where you're goin', pal!" The trainer said.

"Oh, sorry. I'll pay better attention next time," I said nonchalantly.

"Sorry ain't gonna cut it! Battle me! Now!"

"Look, kid. I have an important meeting to get to. So why don't you challenge someone in the town back that way?"

"DON'T CALL ME 'KID!' YOU'RE NOT MUCH OLDER THAN ME!" It was true. I looked at the trainer and noticed he looked somewhere between seventeen and eighteen. He had light-brownish hair and medium-dark skin, noticeably darker than my own. He had a stocky build, but he was a little over 5'11. Probably closer to six-foot.

He had on a blue hoodie and green pants. He clearly just started traveling in Hoenn not long ago.

Poor kid doesn't know what he's doing. I sighed. Better give him some tips. "Those slacks aren't going to last long out here. Get something more durable. Otherwise, your knees'll never stop getting scraped."

"Huh?"

"Also, make sure to carry emergency food and water. Most of the natural water around here's salt water, so it won't do you any good to drink." With that, I plugged a special set of earbuds into my phone, put two in my ears, and two in Eevee's, pressed play and started walking again.

The music flowed from my phone. Ricky was a young boy! He had a heart of stone. I liked this song. I liked rock music in general. Lived nine-to-five and worked his FINGERS TO THE BOOOONE! I knew Eevee liked it, too, so I got a set of two-person earbuds. Just barely out of school, came from the edge of town! That kid was still following me. Fought like a switchblade so no one could take him down, no! I stopped and paused the music.

"What?" I asked irritably.

"It's just that... You seem to know a lot about journeying."

"I travel a lot. That's all."

"Well, I figured, maybe I could go wherever you're off to with you! You know, you give me tips, I provide comedic companionship! Whadaya say?"

"If I wanted a comedian for a travel companion, I'd go on tour with Gabriel Iglasias." I started the music, and resumed my pace.

I could tell he was still following me. His feet hit the ground more often than mine, since my legs were longer, and I heard them. My grandpa always taught me to never block off a single sense from the world unless you were sleeping. And even then, to keep my hearing sharp, so I never played my music loud enough to keep me from listening to my surroundings.

Persistent little shit, I'll give him that. As I thought this, I looked for some way to shake him. Hmmm... When in doubt, head upward. I jumped and grabbed a tree branch, and swung myself into the leaves.

"Hey! Get back here!" The trainer yelled while I disappeared. I jumped from branch to branch like a ninja, taking time to look at all the Pokémon in the trees. I saw Wurmple and its evolutionary family, Nincada and Ninjask, Seedot, and Taillow. Lots of Taillow. Lots of very angry Taillow. I looked at where I was standing. I was about fifteen feet from a Taillow's nest.

Stealth went out the damn window once those Taillow were after me. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshiiiiit! Was all that was going through my head. Until I hit the dead branch. It collapsed from under me. As I fell, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "GOD FUCKING DAMMIIIIIIIT!"

Luckily, I didn't land on the branch. Instead, I hit a hard, worn dirt path in the middle of the forest. "Ugh... You okay, Eevee?"

"Eeeeveeee..." Responded my friend before puking on my shoulder.

"Dude, gross. Well, at least it's honey-scented... Kinda." We both laughed while I used some leaves to wipe my shoulder off. "I'm sure Professor Birch has a washing machine I can use."

We soon discovered that the dirt path led straight to Birch's lab. It was the path to his Pokémon reserve fields, where the trainers under his tutelage kept the Pokémon not in their party, including his daughter, May. We walked in to find a white haired young man wearing a black suit with various purple accents and many metal rings conversing with a heavyset brown haired man with a noticeable stubble wearing a lab coat, a navy blue polo, green cargo shorts, and sandals. "Ah, George! We were wondering when you'd arrive. What happened to your clothes?"

"Well, Steven, I was chased here through the trees by a flock of Taillow, I fell to the ground, and Eevee puked on me," I said, trying to keep my irritation with the day's events from dripping into my voice.

"Well there's a washing machine in the back you can use, but this is an urgent meeting," the Professor said.

"Thanks, Birch. I have my uniform, so I can wear that while my clothes are being washed.

"Oh! Fantastic!" Once my clothes were in the washer, the meeting proceeded.

"Now then. George, did you bring them?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, the Mega Ring's right here, and I've got Sceptile right here," I replied.

"Perfect! Here's what we found," said Birch, handing me what looked like a Pokéball sized marble.

"It's a Mega Stone, alright," I said, examining it. I handed it to Sceptile, and stood back. Then, I slipped the bracelet-like item onto my wrist, and tapped the small, rainbow colored stone in the center. As soon as I did, my wrist and Sceptile were enveloped in light. The light quickly died down. Where Sceptile stood before, there was a different looking reptilian grass-type Pokémon.

"SceeeeeepTIIIIILE!" Cried the Mega Sceptile standing before us.

"Gentlemen," I said, "I present to you... Mega Evolution."

I collected my clothes, changed back into them, and started towards the door. "Wait!" Cried Professor Birch. "We have some more Mega Stones for you!" He handed me three mega stones. "These are Salamancite, Altarianite, and Metagrossite. I'm sure you can use them better than I can!"

"Thanks, Professor. I'll be sure to check back in from time to time while I'm here," I replied.

"You're not going back to Council headquarters?" Steven asked, shocked that I would imply such a thing.

"Are you kidding? I was promised a vacation, so I'm taking a vacation!" With that, I opened the door, and walked straight into that kid again. "Rrgh! What do I have to do to get rid of you?!"

"I challenged you to a battle, so I'm gonna get a battle!" He exclaimed.

Fine. One battle. Three-on-three. Deal?"

"Yes!" Professor Birch led us to a small battlefield out back. Steven officiated.

"This is a normal three-on-three Pokémon battle! Both sides are allowed to substitute Pokémon! Ready? Begin!" Steven yelled.

"Octillery! I choose you!"

"Sceptile, let's go!" Two Pokéballs opened at the same time, his revealing a red aquatic Pokémon with short tentacles.

"Octillery! Use Octazooka!" Octillery fired a blob of black ink from its mouth at Sceptile. Of course it didn't worry me at all.

"Sceptile! Leaf Blade, back-to-back!" Sceptile wasted no time. The four leaf-like protrusions on its arms started to glow green, and grow in length. It quickly slashed Octazooka in two, rendering it useless. Then, Sceptile launched itself at Octillery, hitting it with a Leaf Blade, knocking it out cold.

"Octillery is unable to battle!" Steven announced. "Sceptile wins!"

"Octillery! Are you okay?!" The trainer asked his Pokémon. Octillery let out a sad gurgle in response.

Huh. Maybe I misjudged this kid. I thought, watching as he helped Octillery to the sidelines. "Hey, Kid! What trainer class are you?!" I asked across the field as Sceptile sat on a bench behind me.

"Stop calling me kid!" He shouted back. "My name's Carburn Clyden, and I'm an A-class trainer!"

A-class, huh? But he's never travelled on his own before? He must've been with a sibling or something. "Okay, Carburn, was it? Send out your next Pokémon!"

He obliged by throwing another Pokéball, and yelling, "Pumpkaboo! It's your turn!" The Pokéball opened, and an enormous pumpkin shaped Pokémon emerged.

"Pumpkaboo!" It cried.

"Wow! I've never seen a super-size Pumpkaboo up close like this! They're really rare!" I chimed. "But even it can't stand up to my next Pokémon! Torkoal, let's go!" From my Pokéball, a reptilian Pokémon with orange skin, a black, perforated shell, and seemingly closed eyes.

"Torkoal!" It cried, spewing white smoke from its nostrils and the hole at the top of its shell.

"Oh, is there a new pope?" Carburn quipped. I have to admit, I smirked a little at that remark. But, this was a battle.

"Torkoal! Flamethrower!" Torkoal shot a stream of fire from its mouth, which hit Pumpkaboo directly.

"Pumpkaboo is unable to battle! Torkoal wins!"

"Pumpkaboo, don't worry! I'll heal you as soon as I can!" Carburn growled. "You're gonna get it now. Time for me to send out my partner Pokémon! Dunsparce! I choose you!"

The last Pokéball opened to reveal a small yellow creature with tiny wings and a drill-like tail. "Partner, huh? Okay, then. Eevee, it's your turn," I said, waking Eevee from his nap.

"Vee~?" Eevee replied sleepily. However, he got up, and walked onto the field.

"Dunsparce! Use Rollout!" Dunsparce curled into a ball, wings parallel to its back, and rolled quickly towards Eevee.

"Eevee, jump left!" Eevee did so, and Dunsparce missed. "Now use Iron Tail!" Eevee's tail started glowing with a silver light, jumped high in the air, and curled up into a disc shape, and spun like a circular saw. Eevee came down on Dunsparce with a powerful strike.

"Dunsparce is unable to battle! Eevee wins! The victor is George!"

"Dunsparce! Are you okay?!"

"Here," I said, giving him three Revives. "These'll tide them over until we get to the Poké Center in Oldale Town."

"Thanks, I-wait, 'we?'"

"Yeah. You remind me a lot of myself when I was younger. You also remind me of another Tauros-headed S.O.B. I use to travel with. So are you in?"

"Yeah, sure. But... How'd you beat me so easily?"

I remained silent for a moment. "What's the average level of your team?"

"Um... About 25, 26. Why?"

"The average level of the three Pokémon I used in our battle is at least twice that."

"Whoa... That's incredible... But wait..." He flashed a confused look at Eevee, who just smiled deviously and nodded.

"Well? Are you coming along, or not?"

"Oh! Y-yeah! I'm coming! Alright, guys! We have an expert to travel with! This'll be great! Y'know, unless we run out of food..." And with that, I was a traveling trainer again. Little did I know that an entire new set of adventures awaited me. I was too busy thinking about how great it was to be free from the Council for the first time in three months.

Okay! I'm done with chapter one of this story. Hopefully, everyone who is featured in this comic, in this chapter and chapters to come are satisfied with the opening. 'Cause I'm not rewriting this shit. Also, I only accept constructive criticism. Constructive. Alright? Alright. Later!


	2. Chapter 2:All That GLITters

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any other brand, product, song, etc. I should happen to mention in this story. The only things I "own" are the characters, and even then, I use the term loosely.

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 2: All That Glitters

"You're Pokémon are now fighting fit! We hope to see you again!"

"Thanks!" Carburn seemed chipper for someone who'd just lost to someone over three times his strength. "So," he said, taking a seat across from me. "Exactly how strong are you?" I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't really have much choice. Nice as he was, I still didn't trust him. Then again, it'd been so long since I really did trust someone, I forgot what it felt like and how to do it.

"Double S-class," I said casually. He nearly jumped out of his seat.

"D-double S-class?! Really?!" He asked in shock. Technically speaking, it was true. Double S-class trainers are, essentially, Pokémon masters.

"Yep," I replied through a mouthful of fries. Poké Centers usually served really good food, and Oldale Town was no exception. I had ordered a cheeseburger and fries, plus food for all of my Pokémon the second I walked in.

"Hey, I've always wondered... Where, exactly, does meat come from?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've never heard of anyone eating Pokémon before, so where do we get it?"

"A long time ago, some genetic engineers found a way to create plants that bear meat, so we wouldn't need to kill Pokémon anymore for food. Those trees, technically, aren't plants," I explained.

"Oh... YO! TWO TACOS, STAT!" The chef did a small salute with his spatula, and started on Carburn's order. Carburn then turned around and stared at me, his brown eyes wide with awe. "So... Double S-class... You must've won at least six regional league challenges!"

"Uh-huh. This is actually my second time in Hoenn." I took a bite of my burger. "I'm thinking about taking the league challenge again."

"Huh? Why would you take it again?" I thought about the answer for a bit.

"To prove a stubborn old bastard wrong, I guess," I finally said. This was actually entirely true.

(Flashback)

"Hey, Grandpa! I did it! I won the Hoenn League challenge!"

"Did you? Well that's fantastic! But I bet you can't do it again!"

"What?! What do you mean by that?!"

"Ha ha ha! It's a challenge in itself! If you can beat the Hoenn League again within the next ten years, you can have my old Impala!"

"Deal! I can't wait to prove you wrong!"

"Ha ha! You're definitely my grand kid! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

(End flashback)

I felt my eyes were about to tear up, but I managed to keep myself from doing so. "What about you?" I asked. "Why are you here?"

"Um..." He took a second to think. "Well, originally, I'm from Violet City in Johto. But my mom's from Kalos, and my parents split up when I was a kid. My dad helped me catch my first Pokémon, Dunsparce, and a Remoraid before I went to stay with my mom for a month when I was seven. She helped me catch Pumpkaboo. When I did, she was super excited and proud. But, she wanted me to go to a snobby boarding school, and I didn't fit in. So, I left. My old man's still fuming about Mom trying to force me to stay in Kalos. So, I traveled around with my brother and my sister for a while, went back to Dad for about nine years, and I decided to start my first solo adventure here."

"Eevee!" Eevee called from the phone booths.

"What does it want?" Carburn wondered aloud.

I stood up and replied, "He says I have a call." Carburn's face changed back to shock.

"You can understand it?!" He asked.

"Of course. What, can't you understand Dunsparce?"

"... Not... In it's speech, no."

I then remembered that the person I was speaking to wasn't a Pokémon master or an aura guardian. He couldn't understand Pokémon speech or read their aura. He was a normal trainer. "Sorry," I said. "I forgot that not everyone can do it. It takes a lot of time to get a bond that deep with a Pokémon. Most of the people I've been hanging out with for a long time have that bond with their Pokémon." I walked over to the phone, and picked it up. It was one of the last people I was expecting to be calling me, but I was glad to hear from him.

"Afternoon, George! Professor Birch told me you were in Oldale Town, so I figured I'd give a call," said the white haired old man on the screen before me. He looked like he could fit into a Sherlock Holmes book, due to his large sideburns and equally large mustache.

"Professor Rowan! It's been a long time! How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing excellently! In fact, I'm on the verge of a breakthrough concerning Mega Evolution! By the way, weren't you supposed to return to headquarters after receiving the newly discovered Mega Stones from Professor Birch?"

"I'm incognito. Taking a much needed vacation. Not a word to the Council or the World League, and I'll owe you a huge favor."

"Interesting you should bring that up. Another of my old students, a Gym Leader in-training, is currently in Hoenn, looking for someone to train under. Perhaps you could travel with her!"

"Uhhh..." I didn't know what to say to the old man. He gave me a Turtwig when I started my travels in Sinnoh, and he took me under his wing as a trainer, and my sister as an assistant. Plus, he was covering for me with the Council. I couldn't turn him down. I sighed heavily. "Okay, you win. Where is she?"

"In Petalburg, I believe. Thank you, and safe travels!" With that, he hung up. I put the earpiece back onto the receiver, and walked out of the booth.

"Who was that?" Carburn inquired.

"Professor Rowan, my old mentor," I stated. "He wants us to meet up with another one of his students, a GLIT." A GLIT, or "Gym-Leader-In-Training," is normally an S-class trainer with a specific type theming to their party. They spend about a year, on average, in a special school that teaches them the basics. Then, they find a full-fledged Gym Leader to study under for about one to two years. At that point, they can get their own gym, or take over for another Gym Leader. After about six months, they are considered full-fledged Gym Leaders, and can have Glits of their own.

"A girl's gonna be traveling with us? Score!" Carburn stated.

"No, she'll be traveling with us until she finds a mentor GL. We'll probably barely even learn her name." (Looking back, this is probably what triggered what happened next.)

The road to Petalburg was shorter than I remembered, but I didn't care. I was too busy watching Carburn battling a wild Poochyena.

"Dunsparce, Rollout!"

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuun-SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRCE!" The attack just winged Poochyena, but it was enough to weaken it a substantial amount.

"Alright! You're mine, Poochyena!" Carburn threw the Pokéball, and watched as Poochyena was enveloped in soft, red light, and pulled into the Pokéball. It shook once, twice, thrice, and... Click! "Yes! I caught a Poochyena!"

"Good work, but you rely too much on Rollout. Also, next time you use Rollout, have Dunsparce tuck it's wings in. It'll allow it to turn and hit it's target more easily."

"Okay. I'm just so excited!"

"What for? Adventure? New experiences? The thrill of battle?"

"No. I'm excited for the girl joining us!" He hadn't shut up about it for five minutes. I reached into my backpack, and threw a bottle at him. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"It's a water bottle. You must be dehydrated, 'cause you're the thirstiest motherfucker I've ever met," I retorted casually. I could tell that I had pissed him off.

"G-H-F-YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M THE COMEDIAN IN THIS GROUP, GOT IT?! I WILL NOT HAVE MY ROLE IN THIS GROUP BE TAKEN FROM ME!" I couldn't help but smile to myself. It was never not fun to piss people off.

We got to Petalburg City at about half-past-two, so we could probably at least get to the Petalburg Woods before nightfall, if we found this girl soon. "Alright," I said. "Carburn, you go check the Poké Center and the Poké Mart. I'll check the Gym and the park. If you find her, text me on my Poketch. Here's the number." I handed him the paper.

"Right-o!" Carburn said as he took the slip of paper and punched the number into a very old kind of Poké gear. We split up, me with Eevee on my shoulder, and Carburn with Dunsparce hovering along the ground at his side.

Obviously, I should check the Gym first. If I know Norman, he'll keep talking about how "unfortunate it is" that he's got the max number of Glits the League allows, I thought as I ran towards the Gym. As it came into view, I could see Norman in the doorway talking to another person. Once I was in earshot, I heard this.

"... The maximum number of GLITs this year, and some stayed from last year's group. I'm sorry, Rain."

That must be the chick Rowan was talking about. As soon as I got close enough for them to hear me running towards them, Rain put a pair of headphones on, and started walking away. "Hey! Wait! Dammit, she can't hear me! Eevee, get her attention!" I brought my arm back like I was going to throw a sloppy punch, and Eevee ran down my arm and jumped off my fist once I launched it forward. Eevee spun and twirled through the air as if he could evolve into a Flying-type at any second. He landed right in front of her, sticking the landing like a boss on his hind legs. She stopped walking, pulled her headphones off, and watched Eevee do a little dance. I finally managed to catch up to them, but I doubled over, gasping for air. "Thank God... I... Caught up... I need... To talk... To yo-" I finally looked up, and saw what she looked like.

Her eyes were a sort of pale golden color, and her hair was long and blue. She was wearing a dark blue hoodie with a couple of ice blue bands on her sleeves above the elbows but below the shoulders. She had a pair of black denim shorts on that stopped a bit above her knees. Her skin was lighter than my own, despite Rowan describing her as 'Quite outdoor-sy.' Her running shoes were somewhat worn, suggesting they were relatively new. I noticed that what I thought was a tan and brown scarf was, in fact, a full-grown Furret.

"Fur?" Muttered the fluffy Pokémon.

"Uh... What did you need to talk to me about?" I snapped out of my stupor, regained my breath, stood up straight, and steeled my nerve.

Wait, why do I have to steel my nerve? I questioned myself. "I was told to accompany a Glit around the Hoenn region. From the description I got, it appears it's your lucky day," I said.

"Okay... Meet me at the Pokémon Center after you're done with the gym." She put her headphones back on and started walking away. I thought about what she said, and I did what anyone in my situation would do. I followed her.

Since she had her headphones on, she couldn't hear me behind her, but I had to be careful of Furret. I made sure to duck in and out of alleyways to keep from being seen. I also angled my feet between each step, so that the outsides of my feet fell first, and I just rolled it flat, rather than stepping heel-first like people normally do. Thus, my footsteps were almost silent. An old cop trick my grandpa taught me.

Then, three thugs stepped out of an alley and surrounded Rain. "Hey, girl," one of the thugs said. He was wearing sunglasses and had more Pokéballs on his belt than the others, so I assumed he was the boss. "You're too pretty to be on your own in this part of the city! Don't worry, we'll keep you company."

"Uh, no, thanks. I'm actually meeting someone later," she responded.

"Oh. Well, it's too bad we're not asking." They grabbed her and dragged her into their alley.

"No! Let me go! Furret! Iron Tail!" I peeked around the corner to see Furret's tail glow with a silver light, and attempted to beat the now five thugs away from its trainer.

"Little pest! Venomoth, Stun Spore!" One of the thugs cried. As directed, a large, purple, insect Pokémon emerged from one of his Pokéballs, and scattered a yellow powder on Furret, making it unable to move. "Now use Tackle! Teach that overgrown Raticate not to mess with The Hell Spores!" Venomoth slammed its body into Furret, sending it into a wall.

"Furret!" Rain cried, trying even harder to struggle free.

"Venomoth, how about you keep our guest from leaving prematurely?" Venomoth used its Stun Spore on Rain. They let her go, and she fell to the ground, spasming slightly.

Oh, that's the last fucking straw! I grabbed three Pokéballs from my belt.

"What's the matter? Gettin' a little hot down there? Then you shouldn't of pissed us off. Ah well, I'm nothing if not merciful," the leader rambled. "Shiftry, come out and give her some air." His Pokéball opened, and a short, white-haired, wooden troll-like figure with fan-like hands emerged. I saw Rain's eyes go wide with fear. Shiftry took a single step forward, but didn't make it any closer.

"Flamethrower!"

"Toooor-KOOOOAAAAL!" Shiftry was blasted into the wall on the other side of the alley by the flames, which didn't let up for a full minute.

"Sorry, boys, but I'm pretty sure the lady said 'no,'" I said. Let's see... Venomoth could be trouble if it stays in-play too long. Time to clear the field. "Swift!"

"Floooaaat-ZELZELZELZELZEL!" Floatzel, my current Water-type, fired hundreds of star-shaped energy bursts. And, as always, they found their mark, and Venomoth was out of commission. I walked into the alley, Eevee on my shoulder, Torkoal on my left, Floatzel on my right. I knew exactly what was going to happen.

"You three go protect the girl and her Furret. I'll handle these guys," I said. My Pokémon didn't hesitate, nor did they try to save me when the thugs circled up around me.

"You either got a lot o' balls or no fuckin' brain, challengin' us to a fistfight," the gang boss said. "You're outmatched. It's five-to-one!"

"Three-to-one," I corrected him.

"Wha?"

"Last two guys always end up running."

"Isn't that from a movie?" One thug asked.

"The book was better," I said calmly. "Oh, right! I forgot, you guys don't know what I'm talking about! See, a book is a thing with paper in it that have words on these things called 'pages.'" That did it. The boss rushed at me with his hand clenched into a fist and his arm cocked. Typical. Poor bastards don't realize what they're in for. I blocked his punch with my left arm, and punched him in the nose with my right. He didn't even see it coming.

Then, two of his goons took their turns together. Fun! I thought. I caught the one to my left, caught his arms, and used him as a shield. From anyone else's perspective, I probably looked like I was dancing around these guys, beating them shitless without effort. His friend did a good job at beating on his friend, which'll probably be embarrassing to explain, but that wasn't my problem.

In one swift movement, I dropped my meat shield and delivered a roundhouse kick to his stomach. He tried to kick back, but I caught his leg, due to him being in too much pain to really do any damage. I looked at the two guys still standing in their starting positions. I looked them dead in the eye, and I gave the guy I was holding one more good kick. Right in the balls. He dropped like a bag of rocks, and his last two friends stared at me. Then they exchanged looks of fear, and started running. Before they could escape, a large, blue, dragon Pokémon with enormous red wings blocked their path. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!" It roared. The last two guys passed out from fear. Ah, the perks of having an overgrown Salamence.

I walked over to Rain, and pulled a flask out of my backpack. "Drink this," I said. "It's Lum Berry juice. It'll help." She did as instructed with a level in distrust in her eyes. I walked over to Furret and used a Full Restore, a special kind of medicine that can make a Pokémon recover from almost anything.

"Why... Did you help me?" She asked, still feeling some of the effects of the Stun Spore.

"Professor Rowan asked me to accompany you until you found a mentor. Also, Poké Center's that way," I answered, pointing in the opposite direction she'd been walking in.

"And who are you?"

"I'm George Steinkreuz. I was one of Rowan's students, too."

"So what are you now?"

"You know, for someone who's supposedly 'anti-social,' you sure ask a lot of questions."

"That's not an answer. If I'm going to be kidnapped twice in the same day, I at least want a description for the cops." I couldn't help but smirk.

"Yeah, you really look like someone who would turn in a double S-class trainer for trying to help you." That seemed to catch her off-guard.

"What?! What do you mean 'helping?!' I could've saved myself!"

"You can move again now, can't you?" I asked, giving Salamence some food.

"Uh-!" She seemed to completely forget she was paralyzed at all. "Y-yeah..."

"Exactly my point," I said, returning Floatzel, Torkoal, and Salamence to their Pokéballs. "Now, if you want, you can leave Petalburg and get me in trouble with the Old Guy, travel on your own, or you can meet me at the Poké Center in 15 minutes. It's your call. But I'd say traveling with someone is the wiser choice." I then started to walk away.

'Ooh, nice play for psychology!'

What the hell?! Who are you?!

'Oh, I'm just your conscience. Y'know, the little voice in your head telling you right from wrong that you've suppressed over the years?'

You seem more like a split personality.

'Well, since I've been locked up, I've gone a little crazy. No thanks to you. Now, I'm your Deadpool boxes. So what's the plan to get that sweet-'

Don't you dare finish that sentence, or I will fucking obliterate you.

'Jesus Christ, it's almost like you're a love-sick bodyguard!'

She's a possible travel companion. That's all at this point.

'"At this point" you say? Well, at least that gives me something to work with!'

... You never were my conscience, were you?

'Nope!'

Try as I might, I couldn't shut the voice up. So I ignored him the best I could. Which was, in itself, difficult. I managed to make it to the Poké Center in about two minutes, meaning I had thirteen before heading out. "Hey, George, d'you fin her?" Carburn asked.

"Yeah, she-..." I shut my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. "What in God's name is on your head?" I already knew what it was, but I couldn't believe he was actually wearing one.

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."

I looked at him again, grabbed the fez off his head, and spoke thusly. "Do you see a blue fucking phone booth?" He looked around and shook his head. "Then no Doctor Who references!" I threw the fez over my shoulder. Then Eevee ran over and put it on its own head. I sighed heavily. "This is gonna be a long journey..."

Well, her fifteen minutes are up.

'I can just feel the disappointment in life dripping from your thoughts!'

I decided to refer to the annoying voice as "ZYX." It was better than nothing.

"Alright, let's go, Carburn," I said, trying to pass any disappointment as boredom.

"Huh? Uh, okay," he responded. "Now then. How do we get to Petalburg Woods?"

It hit me that I had no idea how to get there myself. It'd been six years since I was in Hoenn last. "West" was all I had to go on. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I droned in hope the answer would work its way into the air. Luckily my stupid droning was cut off by a feminine voice.

"Sorry I'm late!" Said Rain, accompanied by her living scarf. "Thanks for waiting up a bit, I had to get some supplies from the Poké Mart, and I lost track of-... Is your Eevee wearing a fez?"

Eevee had, indeed, decided to keep the fez. "... Yes..."

"Awww! That's adorable!"

"But not anywhere near as adorable as me, right?" Carburn said as he slid up to Rain.

She looked at him for a moment, confused. "Okay, I give up," she finally said. "Who's the kid?" Carburn looked as if he'd been hit in the chest by a Geodude.

That's just Carburn. I met him in Littleroot Town, and I told him he could tag along. Don't worry, he's pretty much harmless. Although, we may need to call Bon Jovi," I answered.

"Why's that?"

"'Cause looks like he's been shot in the heart."

"And I'm to blame?"

"I guess you give love a bad name." Everyone but Carburn started laughing in our group.

"It's not funny!" He said

"Oh, come on!" I replied. "Even Dunsparce laughed at that!" Dunsparce was rocking back and forth on its back, in the middle of a laughing fit.

Once everyone calmed down enough to speak, Rain asked, "So what's our next destination?"

"Petalburg Woods," I chimed.

So how do we get there?" Carburn and I looked at each other, then back to the 5'10 girl with a live Furret around her neck.

"We actually... Have no fucking clue..." I muttered.

"No problem," she said, pulling a device from he backpack. "I have a Town Map!" Carburn and I sighed heavily in relief. Rain sighed almost defeatedly. "This is gonna be a long journey."

I should have mentioned this earlier, but the Pokémon sizes in this story have been, are, and will be either anime size or game-Pokédex size, depending on my ideals. For future reference, Eevee, Dunsparce, Sceptile, Torkoal, and Sunni, the shiny Swablu (who will "officially" debut next chapter) are anime size. Salamence is, at this point, unique, because it's larger than game size, but smaller than anime size. Basically, it's big enough for two fully grown adults to ride on it comfortably without impairing it's ability to fly. As you'll see in Salamence's appearance, I refer to it as "large," meaning "larger than average." If you want, you can safely assume that Salamence game size, but overgrown. See you guys when I upload the next installment of Pokémon: Zeta Advance! Later!


	3. Chapter 3:The Weeping Woods

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or any legitimate brand, business, song rights, etc. in this story, no matter how much I wish I did. I wonder if I have to do this at the start of every chapter. Probably not a bad idea to do it anyway.

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 3: The Wailing Woods

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"We're not lost, Burns. We're... Taking the scenic route," I responded.

"So we are lost."

"Y'know, Burns, there's an old saying in my family that goes back almost 500 years."

"And what's that?"

"Shut the hell up!" At this point, Rain looked like she questioned why she joined the two of us. Furret, Dunsparce, and Eevee were playing a little bit ahead of us, making sure they wouldn't lose us.

"Will you two stop bickering already?! You sound like an old married couple!" Rain finally shouted at us, forcing us to come to a halt. The three Normal-type Pokémon stopped, too.

I simply folded my arms behind my back and retorted, "He wishes he could get an ass as nice as mine." I could see her eye twitching in annoyance. "Don't act like you haven't been checking it out." That earned me one punch to the jaw.

"Heh... You got beat up by a girl," Carburn said once we were moving again.

"There's no shame in being beat up by a girl. They're a hell of a lot tougher than we are," I responded, holding a hand to the slight red mark on the left side of my jaw shaped like Rain's fist. "She's got a hell of a right hook, I'll tell you that much."

"You're damn right I do," Rain said, clearly pleased with herself.

I looked up at the now orange sky. "We should set up camp soon," I said.

I saw Rain shudder. "Couldn't we just find our way out of here and camp outside of Rustboro?" She asked, clearly tentative about camping in the woods.

"What's the matter, scared of the dark?" Carburn asked. I swatted him on the back of the head.

"No... Grass-type Pokémon..." She muttered.

"Don't worry, the only Grass-types that are wild here are Shroomish, and they're relatively harmless, as long as we don't threaten them," I said encouragingly. That seemed to calm her down. Until she saw the Shroomish by my foot.

"Shroom!" It chimed happily.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The Shroomish got spooked by Rain's scream, and shot off a Stun Spore in all directions it could.

"Sunni! I need you to block that StunSpore!" I shouted, throwing a Pokéball into the air. The Pokéball opened, and a small, yellow bird Pokémon with white, cottony wings, a white beak, and white feet emerged. The air sparkled around it for a second after it emerged from the ball.

"Swablu!" She chirped. Sunni flew around the Shroomish's Stun Spore cloud, taking the entirety of the attack. The cloud disappeared, and she began to fall from the air.

"Sunni, return!" A beam of red light came from my Pokéball, and sucked Sunni back into it. I turned to the Shroomish, and knelt down to it. It was still a little scared.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you," I said gently. "I promise."

"Sh-shroom?" Asked the Sroomish, motioning toward Rain, who was hiding behind a tree.

I smiled warmly, and told it, "She's just as scared as you are. But she won't hurt you. She's actually very nice!" The Shroomish calmed down after that. It bid us farewell, and returned to its home deeper in the woods.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" I got back up, and turned around.

"It's a gift, I guess." Even from her position behind her tree, I could see Rain studying my face. Particularly, my eyes. No, not my eyes... She was focusing just above them. Fuck! I thought as pulled my hat bill lower.

'What's the big deal? So she was looking at your eyebrows. Big whoop.'

The split, jackass! If she sees that, the jig's up!

'Oh, shit, you're right!' The only unique factor of mine that solidifies my identity. My left eyebrow has a split in it about five-sixths inward. It's highly recognizable, so I try to keep it hidden when I don't want to be noticed in public. It was on Poké People magazine's list of top ten list of "recognizable physical characteristics of celebrities." (It was number three underneath "Unova Elite Four member Marshal's eyebrows" at number two, and "Professor Rowan's mustache and sideburns" at one)

Since we each had our own tents, we were each responsible for setting our own one up. Rain had managed to get hers up in a matter of minutes, and fed Furret and her other Pokémon, a small, floating creature with a snow-white body with occasional sections of purple, a red ribbonlike thing wrapped around its body, tied a red bowlike shape on its back, and frozen black flames for horns; a Froslass.

I tried to figure mine out, going back to the instructions again and again, struggling to put up my new tent, since my old one got destroyed by my sister's Persian. I struggled, got tangled up, and growled ferociously in exasperation. After about a half-hour, I gave up, and just had Sceptile come out and help me, which caused Rain to hide behind her tree again. "You will get over your fear before we reach Sootopolis City, even if it kills me!" I told her.

Carburn struggled with his tent for almost two hours, and still couldn't get it up just right. Sceptile and I tried to offer help, but what we were answered with was, "No! I can get this! Maybe if I just-Ah! Right in the balls!" It was fucking hilarious.

Finally, he allowed Sceptile to help, and his tent was up within fifteen minutes. He screamed in despair when he saw how simply it could be done. It was fucking hilarious. Of course, by the time he was done, the fire was going, and I was cooking kabobs.

Suddenly we heard something. Distant screaming. All three of us jumped up and formed a small circle around the fire. Carburn had Octillery in front of him, Rain had Froslass, and I had Sceptile. "Where' sit coming from?" Carburn asked.

I listened for a second. "From our seven," I said.

"What does that mean?" Rain asked.

"Over there!" Carburn yelled, pointing at two shapes moving toward us. One of them was a guy, about a year younger than us, running in our direction. Flying beside him was a green and red insect Pokémon with large eyes, four long, thin wings, and a long tail. When he saw our fire, he got excited and ran faster. His Pokémon, a Yanma, arrived first, and flew around the fire in happy circles. The teenager, who I could now see was about six foot clean, was laughing maniacally.

"Light! Hahaha! We're safe for the night, Yanma! Hahahahaha!" He said, stopping just before our campfire.

"Excuse me, but that campfire is ours!" Carburn said to the trainer. In the light of the fire I could see him better. He had curly, dirty-blonde hair hidden under a straw hat, blue eyes that reflected firelight and madness. He was wearing a white tank top under an open camouflage jacket, cargo shorts that ended below his knee, and a pair of sandals. Since he didn't respond to Burns talking at all, I figured it was time to try it Steinkreuz style.

"Hey, Straw Hat! Beat it! This is our spot!" He slowly turned his head to face me, his expression still one of a mad man.

"But it doesn't come near the light. It leaves the light alone," he responded. And with that, both he and his Yanma passed out on the ground. We forced Carburn to let them use his tent for the night.

The three of us sat around the campfire, roasting marshmallows for s'mores. I'd left my hat in my tent so that Sunni could nap on my head, which she was. Eevee, Furret, and Dunsparce were huddled together and fast asleep. "What do you think he meant by 'it leaves the light alone?'" Burns asked.

"No clue," I replied. "Could be a ghost, could be an old legend, could be crazy."

"Could it be some kind of Pokémon?" Rain asked as if she could tell I knew the answer.

"That's the most likely scenario. Hey, Burns, fire's getting low. Your turn to get firewood."

"Alright. C'mon, Pumpkaboo. Let's get some wood." The enormous pumpkin spirit floated at its trainer's side. Once he was out of earshot, Rain grabbed my wrist, and dragged me into the forest, covering my mouth so Eevee couldn't hear me.

She flung me into a tree, and kept me pinned there with one hand. She's a lot stronger than she looks, I thought, trying to squirm free. With her free hand, she reached up and pushed my bangs out of the way. I shut my eyes, knowing what she would find.

"... So... It is you..." She said, almost in a whisper. I looked back at her, and simply nodded in confirmation. "But why?.." I took a deep breath.

Confession time... I thought. "I want... I want my freedom back," I answered. "The new Pokémon Master Supreme... He's trying to topple the Council... To turn it into a militant regime... And I couldn't stand Romulan anymore, so... I chose to hide myself."

"You could've told us. You could've at least told me."

"... I'm sorry... But the fewer people who know, the better. I'm sick of people trying to be my friends just because I'm a Pokémon master. And it's less likely that he'll know about where I am." Rain was shocked to see how serious I was. She knew the latest Pokémon Master Supreme as most people knew him. A charismatic, eloquent, intelligent man by the name of Romulan Caesar, who also had the privilege to hold the title of world champion.

But in truth, he was a manipulative, vengeful, calculating psychopath who resented his old teacher, his predecessor, Master Atticus Argentinem. He hated the peaceful ways of Atticus's teachings, and meant to destroy the Council, and create an army to conquer the world.

"He thinks that I'm the only one with the power to stop him from accomplishing this. He wants me out of the League, but there's a law that states a Pokémon Master Supreme can't overturn his predecessor's last decree. Making me a Pokémon master was Atticus's last act as Pokémon Master Supreme." She slowly lowered the hand pinning me to the tree, and took a few steps back, looking at me with pure shock.

"Why are you telling me all this?" She asked. "I thought you said the less people who knew about you the better."

"Because..." I said, not entirely sure of the answer myself. But, somehow, it flowed out. "I trust you."

"You... Trust me?" She asked. I nodded. "... And what if I don't trust you? How can you prove that you trust me?" Without speaking, I took my hoodie off, and threw it on a low branch. I lifted the back of my shirt, revealing a large, jagged scar on my back.

"Only a few my Pokémon, and even fewer people, have seen this scar. You're the only person I've ever shown it to entirely of my own free will," I said somberly. "A Charizard did that to me. Three years ago. It was being manipulated by a group of malevolent Beheeyem who wanted to wipe out humanity."

She mindlessly traced her finger along the scar. As she did, it felt as though electricity was running through me, in a good sense, starting at the scar. It felt as if the electricity gave me strength. "The Charizard that gave me this is my own, and was at the time, as well."

She suddenly pulled her hand away from my scar. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to mess with it!" She said. I couldn't help but smile.

"It's fine. I'm sure Charizard wouldn't mind, either," I said warmly. I pulled my shirt back down, and turned to face her. "Do you trust me know?"

She looked somewhat conflicted. Well..." She started.

Suddenly we heard a noise not far away. "Myaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"What the hell?!"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." I grabbed my hoodie off of its branch and ran in the direction the noise came from.

"Myaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"We're close!" I turned my head and saw Rain right behind me.

"Myaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Through here!" We both crawled through a small tunnel of branches, and came to a large chamber with no ceiling. Sitting in the center was a tiny, grey furred Pokémon with a small tail, two short arms, two short legs, and its ears folded over the sides of its head. It turned to look at us. Its eyes were large and pink, with blue pupils. And it was crying. "An Espurr? What's it doing here?" I wondered aloud.

"Myah?" The Espurr watched us get closer. Suddenly, we were stopped by an invisible wall of psychic energy.

"Barrier! Then that means..." I growled in frustration. This Espurr was abandoned by a breeder! I calmed myself and focused. If I could just... My hand was enveloped in a green light. Yes! My aura would finally prove useful for helping a Pokémon.

I gently touched Espurr's Barrier, willing my aura to disperse it. As an opening appeared, Espurr used its powers to launch me backwards into the wooden wall. Rain looked back, and about started running. I can't let her worry... I started laughing kindly. Both she and Espurr looked confused. "Wow! You're a strong little fella, aren't you?"

"Myah?" Espurr asked.

"Yeah! You're probably one of the strongest Espurr I've ever met!" It worked Espurr dropped its Barrier. But instead of smiling, it started to cry again.

"Espurr, what's wrong?!" Rain said, running to Espurr. "Shh, shh, shh... It's okay, sweetie..." She picked it up, and cradled it in her arms. She started humming to the Pokémon, which I now realized it was small, even for Espurr standards.

It's... Still just a baby...

'That heartless bastard! If we ever find out who did this to that Espurr...' The Pokémon had fallen asleep in Rain's arms, sleeping soundly.

"Why do you think Espurr was crying?" She whispered.

"This Espurr was bred by someone. They were probably selling Espurr with increased stats in different areas, special move sets, or they were trying to breed a shiny Pokémon. They saw this one as a reject," I whispered back. Espurr purred, and started to wake up. Rain smiled sweetly at the Pokémon.

"I guess you're a light sleeper, huh?"

"Myah?"

"Then again, it must be hard to sleep on the ground like you have been!"

"Myah..."

"Espurr... If you want, you can travel with us... As my Pokémon."

"Myah... Myah?"

"Or you can stay wild and travel with us!"

"Myah... Myah."

"Huh?"

"... My... Myah... Myah-myah!" I was shocked by Espurr's way of saying yes, but I couldn't help but to laugh.

"What's so funny? What'd it say?"

"He called you 'Ma-Ma!'" Once I told her, Rain looked back at Espurr, smiled, and hugged the tiny Pokémon.

We found our way back to the spot where Rain interrogated me, Rain holding Espurr's Pokéball. "Remember," I said seriously. "Not a word to Carburn or the crazy kid. I can't risk one of them blabbing to the wrong people. Not yet, anyway."

"Okay," she replied. "But I want to know anything and everything you've kept from us." I smiled.

"In due time," I said.

"C'mon! Tell me something now! Anything!"

"My grandpa."

"Huh?"

"He taught me almost everything I know about Pokémon. You're the first person I've told since before I became a master." She smiled at the fact. Fortunately, she was happy with the information so far. Unfortunately, we got back to the camp site at the same time as Carburn.

"So..." He began. "You remember to-" Before he even finished that sentence, I knocked his dumbass out. I've never punched anything so hard in my life. It was fucking hilarious.

Sunni had still been sleeping where she fell off my head. I checked to make sure she was okay. She was fine, save for annoyed that she'd been woken up just to have a light shined in her eyes.

I looked over the individual data on Rain's Espurr I had collected on my Pokédex. "Looks like he knows Scratch, Leer, and Barrier, but that's about it," I told her after she'd put him to bed.

"So he hasn't reached level 5 yet, meaning he's still got his entire level-up set ahead of him," she figured.

"Yeah. And it looks like his Special Attack and Special Defense stats are really high for his level," I added. Since she knew I was a Pokémon master now, I didn't need to hide my skills or my knowledge from her, which would make it easier to map out tag team strategies. Rain yawned, and started towards the door-flap of my tent.

"I'm going to bed," she said before she left.

"Okay. 'Night!"

"'Night!" After she left, I looked at some more individual files.

Froslass-Lvl:60... Furret-Lvl:55... Swablu("Sunni")-Lvl:25...

'She sees the same potential in Espurr that you see in Sunni,' Zyx commented.

No... She just loves him unconditionally, like a mother would, I corrected. Before I fell asleep, we had one more exchange.

'So how do we get her to fall for you?' I smiled. I knew the answer would piss him off, so I wasted no time.

The same way she gets her information. In due time. There's nothing as mentally satisfying as falling asleep to the frustrated screams of your subconscious.

I woke up at about six in the morning. No one else was up, so I decided to cook breakfast. I looked over towards the nest of blankets Eevee liked to make before sleeping in. Instead of seeing a fluffy ball of adorableness curled up in the nest, I instead saw Eevee sprawled out on his back, drooling. I could tell he'd been like that all night, because there was a small puddle of drool underneath his right ear, which had a practical stream of drool running down it.

'Still not as much as the fangirls, though.' For once, I agreed.

I chose to make shipwreck. Shipwreck's a good breakfast. I pulled out a small refrigerator-like device from my bag, and pulled out eggs, potatoes, bacon, and some cheese for flavor. The second the bacon hit the pan, I shit you not, this is what I heard.

"Bacon?"

"Bacon?"

"BACON!"

"EEVEE!"

"Furret?"

"Dunsparce?"

"Yan?"

"Espurr?" ... Okay, maybe Espurr was more confused than excited, but, nonetheless, when Rain burst through her tent barefoot, wearing sweatpants and a black t-shirt, he was clinging to her sleeve. Of course, Burns and the new kid burst out of their tent, too, along with all of their Pokémon.

"It hasn't even started cooking yet!" All of them except Rain and Espurr went back into their tents, disappointed. But she walked up and whispered in my ear.

"Where did you even get this stuff?" She asked.

"Grocery store in Petalburg," I whispered back.

"I mean how did you keep it fresh enough to cook?" I pulled the tiny fridge out of my backpack.

"Future brother-in-law's an engineer. He made this for me to test out. They'll be in stores in about two years." I put the fridge back into my bag. Rain decided to help with breakfast, so she started slicing potatoes into cubes and scrambling the eggs. I finished cooking the bacon, shredded it up, cooked the potatoes, and mixed all three together. Espurr put the cheese on top, we cooked it together till the cheese had melted, and then it was done. "Tssssssssssss..."

"BACON!"

"Bacon!" (Yeah, you all know how that song and dance goes).

When breakfast was done, it was time for introductions. "Okay, Straw Hat," I said bluntly. "You were too fucked up to really talk last night, so... What's your story?"

"My name's Chase," the kid said. "I'm a Bug Catcher!"

"What exactly were you high on last night?" I smacked Carburn in the back of the head. He looked at me angrily.

"I'm gonna do that every time you say something stupid."

Chase said, "Um... I was sleep deprived. I've been in this forest for three days. And every night, a terrifying shriek echoed through the woods all night long."

"That shouldn't be a problem anymore. Espurr has no reason to cry anymore. That's the shrieking you were hearing," Rain explained.

"That's all well and good, but, uh..."

"Now what?" I asked.

"My friends all left without me, so can I travel with you guys?" The three of us looked at each other. We all smiled.

I looked at him and asked, "You got anywhere in particular you gotta be?"

"I already caught a Nincada, so no."

"Then you're in."

Okay! So we got some character intoductions, a little character development, and a catch this chapter! It's just jam-packed, ain't it? Now, before I get into trouble about Sunni's name, it's pronounced "sunny." Because she's yellow. Like the damn sun. And I can name my Pokémon whatever I damn well feel like. Pyro, put the pad down. No fan art. At least not yet. I've barely even scratched the surface here! Later!


	4. Chapter 4: Carry on, Stoneward Son!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any other brands, companies, chains, etc. that I mention in this story. If I did, you think I'd be writing this? Probably, yeah...

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 4:Carry On, Stoneward Son!

"We need to head north."

"No, we need to head west!"

"We could try east... Right, Yanma?"

"Eevee vee Eevee!"

"That's the direction we came from, Eevee!" We'd been arguing for hours. We'd packed up our campsite at 8 am. It was now 11:30.

"Maybe Eevee's right. We should backtrack and start over."

"I wanna get outta the forest before nightfall, though. Plus one of you needs a shower."

"Probably all of us do. Even you, Rain."

"You three need it more, though!"

"Grandpa always taught me 'ladies first!'" She smiled and rolled her eyes.

'Smooth!'

The fuck do I have to do to get rid of you?

'You know damn well!' Zyx started beaming suggestive thoughts at me like a Gatling gun. You probably already know who about. And I'm not going to go into anymore detail then that. Partly because there's probably kids reading this, and partly because she's probably reading this, too.

I felt my face start to turn red, so I started running. I was at the head of the group, so no one saw me blushing. "Hey, Where's the fire?" Carburn asked.

"I'm... Scouting ahead! Wait here, you guys! I'll be back in a while!" I shouted back without turning. Must... Kill... Zyx!

I rounded a corner and kept running till I couldn't breathe. When I stopped, I leaned against a tree and started panting. "Eevee-vee?"

"Yeah. *pant, pant* Him again." Eevee knew about Zyx because of our bond. My bond with Eevee was on a level that went beyond merely trainer and Pokémon. We were best friends, brothers-in-arms, and almost a single being on the battlefield. My aura was linked with Eevee's, so we have a sort of semi-telepathic link.

Once I got my breath back, I started walking. Eevee was beside me, listening for any voices. I put my hood up and a slip of paper fell out. "Huh? What's this?" I wondered, picking it up. Written on it were ten digits in slightly messy handwriting. Scribbled below it, was a single sentence.

"In case you need to get a hold of me for any reason. -Rain.

'Hot DAMN! You weren't even trying! Respect!'

I wonder if Espurr can remove you...

'... Hurtful.' Suddenly, I heard an unfamiliar voice. A human voice. Eevee and I raced towards it. It belonged to a man in a smart, green business suit. He noticed Eevee and I, and he walked over to us.

"Hi!" He said cheerfully. "Have you seen any Shroomish recently? I really like them, but I haven't found a single one!"

"Hey! Not today, no. Are you from Rustboro City?" I replied.

"Yes, actually!" He chirped. "I work at Devon Corp., where-"

"OI, LANDLUBBER! I GOT A BONE TA PICK WI' YOU!" The Devon worker hid behind me, and I got ready to fight. I got into a low stance and grabbed a Pokéball. What I was met with was a man with dark skin wearing a striped blue-and-white t-shirt, blue jeans ripped below the knee, black boots with blue laces, and a black bandana with a strange "Α" shape. And mantyhose that matched his shirt. "I was gunna ambush you a' the exit, but you had to dawdle around like a fucking arsehole! NOW GIVE ME THOSE PLANS!"

"Eep!" The worker cried. "Y-you're a trainer, right? Please help me!" I smiled, more than happy to oblige.

"My pleasure," I said, pulling a Pokéball from my belt. "Sunni, you're up!" The Pokéball opened, and Sunni emerged, sparkles and all. The pirate started laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A Swablu?! Really?! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Let me ask you something. How do you feel about treasure?"

"I love booty! I love it so much, I'll take it from anyone I want!"

"Pretty sure that's called 'rape,' Sailor-boy." It took him a minute to figure it out. When he did, he was steaming!

"Why you little... Poochyena! Teach this bastard not to mess with Team Aqua!" He threw a Pokéball, and, sure enough, a canine-like Pokémon emerged, almost identical to the one Carburn caught on Route 102.

"Sunni, Dazzling Gleam." Bursts of light erupted from Sunni's wings, and hitting the Poochyena, knocking it out. The Team Aqua member growled. "How about some info, Bandana? Archie disbanded Team Aqua years ago. What happened?"

'He's gonna run.'

Not yet.

"Tch! Keep interferin', and you can ask 'im yerself!"

'He's gonna run.'

He's not done yet.

"And YOU!" He said, pointing to the Devon worker. "You wasted my time! But the boss'll still be happy! I got one more job to pull in Rustboro tomorrow that'll make those plans not even worth wiping your arse with!"

'He's gonna run!'

Yep! He ran. Faster than I could.

"Oh, thank you, kind sir! I don't know what I would've done without your help!" The worker said in praise.

"No need to thank me. It was no trouble at all," I said, a little embarrassed.

"I still feel I need to express my gratitude," he replied. "Here, take this Great Ball. I know it's not much, but it's all I've got to give right now." I smiled at the sentiment.

"Thank you."

"If you need anything from me, just ask!"

Well, there are a couple things. Right, Eevee?"

"Vee!"

We walked back to the others. It was about one in the afternoon when we got to them. "Hey! George is back!"

"About damn time, too!"

"Sparce!"

"Huh? Who's the guy in the suit?..." Rain seemed apprehensive.

Understandable, I thought. She doesn't know what Romulan's goons look like. "Everybody, this is Alan. He works at Devon Corp.'s head offices. In Rustboro." That got their attention. They all went from bored to excited in a millisecond.

"George told me you guys need a way out of the forest. I can take you all to Rustboro, if you like." All of them started cheering. Even the Pokémon. I reached up to where Sunni was sitting on my head, and scratched her gently above her right wing. That was her second favorite spot to be scratched. She cooed happily. Within seconds, we were on our way out.

We got to the Poké Center at 1:30. Rain decided to use the public shower before we went to the Gym. Carburn wanted to take one, too, but I had to show him to the men's public showers. Violently.

"Aren't you going to shower, George?" Chase asked.

"I like to take my showers later at night," I answered. "Helps me relax."

"Myah-Myah?" Espurr said. I smiled.

"She'll be out in a minute, Espurr." I could swear Espurr was angry about something I'd just said, because he was staring me down.

"Furr!" Espurr and I looked up to see Rain had come back. Instead of her usual hoodie and shorts, she was wearing a black tank top and a pair of black jeans. However, her headphones were in their usual "standby" position on her shoulders like some sort of necklace. Furret reclaimed its place on her shoulders, and Espurr did the little "up! up!" hopping thing toddlers do. Rain picked him up and held him.

"Sudden change in wardrobe, huh?" I teased lightly. "Trying to impress someone?" I honestly wasn't expecting her to blush. She turned around, and put up her headphones.

"S-Shuddup..." She muttered before heading to the Gym. I left, too, and caught up to her. I'm not a stalker, you guys. The four of us planned to head in groups of two to the Gym if someone (Carburn) took longer to shower than the other.

"Hey, Rain, wait up-!" I tapped her shoulder, and she whirled around and punched me with a left hook. Her face when she saw it was me was one of pure dread. "... I probably deserved that."

She pulled her headphones down and examined the red mark on my cheek. "OMYGODIMSOSORRY!" She kept apologizing over and over. "I thought you were a mugger or Pokémon thief or Carburn trying to scare me!"

"It's fine, Rain," I said, laughing. "You know what I've survived. I think I can take a punch or two!" That seemed to help her calm down. "Listen... I'm sorry for teasing you back at the Poké Center. I wasn't trying to be mean."

She smiled a little, but walked a little ahead of me. "I was just... Taken by surprise... I thought you were serious, considering how serious you were..." I knew exactly what she meant. (If you don't, go back and read chapter three again. Go ahead, I'll wait... ... ... ... ... You get it now? Good!)

"I'm pretty quick to move from one thing to the next. If you keep with the group till the end, you might eventually learn how to understand me."

We got to the gym in no time, because it was so close to the Poké Center. "... Should we knoc-" I walked up to the double doors and opened them wide.

"Dramatic entrance!"

"What are you doing?! My future could be riding on this!" Contrary to her statement, a girl with onyx black hair tied up in a sort of split pony tail with a large red ribbon and wearing a sort of school uniform, red leggings, dress shoes, and a small tie that matched her bow walked towards us. And she wasn't happy. She was ecstatic.

"Look at this shady son of a bitch walking into my gym! It's been so long!" She gave me a friendly hug, and stepped back, still smiling. "How've you been?"

"Oh, you know. Taking down major criminal organizations, befriending legendary Pokémon, saving the world... You know, the family business as usual."

Rain seemed confused about the exchange going on between me and the 5'4" Gym Leader. "What the hell are you two talking about? What family business? Who even is she?!"

"Oh, right," I replied apologetically. "Rain, this is Roxanne, the Rustboro City Gym Leader." That got her attention. "She's an old friend of mine. My grandpa was a legend in law enforcement. They say he could calm even the angriest of Pokémon with nothing more than his kind spirit. He had the ability to understand Pokémon languages. That's where my sister and I get the ability."

"They say he once stopped an entire militant cult from taking over the world riding a black Rayquaza."

"Which is true, by the way." Rain looked like her head might explode. "Oh! Roxanne! I just remembered! Rain here wanted to ask you something!"

"Vee!"

"Okay," she said. "What can I help you with?"

"Uh..." Rain said.

"Furret, Furr Furr!" Furret encouraged.

"Well... I'm a Gym-Leader-In-Training, and... I-I was w-wondering... If you, uh... If you could be my mentor?"

Roxanne sighed, crestfallen. "I'm really sorry," she said. "But the Pokémon Masters' Council revoked my right to host GLITs..." I couldn't help letting a hardly audible growl out.

"Oh... I get it... Rules and regulations, huh?" Rain smiled. But I could tell it was fake. The doors burst open again. "GYM LEADER! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!"

"Oh, Lord..." Well, at least she forgot about Roxanne's rejection!

"Poochyena, Bite!"

"Geodude, watch out!"

"Poochyena, come back! Go! Pumpkaboo!" They'd been battling for half an hour, and neither was about to give up.

"Geodude! Rock Tomb!" Pillars of rock shot diagonally from the ground.

"Dodge it!" Pumpkaboo shot into the air before the pillars slammed together. "Now Razor Leaf!" Pumpkaboo shot a flurry of leaves at Geodude, which finally ended the battle.

"Geodude is unable to battle! Pumpkaboo wins! Victory goes to the challenger!"

"Yes! Haha! We did it, you guys!"

"Sparce!"

"Pumpka!"

"Pooch Pooch!"

"Good job, Burns!"

"Yeah, great battle, dude!"

"That's awesome, Carburn! Great strategy!"

"What strategy? I winged it!" Rain and Chase gave Carburn an unbelieving look.

"What?! You need to have strategies, right? George, aren't you going to say anything?"

"Well," I began, scratching the back of my head and avoiding her gaze. "When I challenged this place... That's what I did, too..." To this day, I still don't know how she kept herself from kicking my ass.

"Carburn Clyden," Roxanne finally said. "As Rustboro City Gym Leader, it is my honor to present you with the Stone Badge."

"Sweet!" Burns said when he received the badge. "C'mon! Let's go celebrate!"

"Yeah!"

"Dunsparce!"

"Yan-Yan!"

"You guys go ahead. Roxanne and I have some catching up to do."

Once the Derpnamic Duo had left, I turned to Rain.

"I need a minute alone with Roxanne to discuss Council issues. Okay?"

"Alright." I smiled, then went with Roxanne to the gym break room. She brewed some tea, and offered me a cup. I took it kindly, but didn't take a sip. I knew Roxanne. I knew I had to be careful in asking this favor, because I knew what she would ask in return. What I didn't know was that Rain was eavesdropping on us.

"So... You need a favor you said?"

"Yeah. You already know what I plan to do. What I want from you is this. When you can host and mentor Glits again, take her as your student."

"Hmmm... An interesting proposition..." She leaned forward with her elbows on the table, intertwining her fingers to look like she was considering it. But in reality, she was hiding a wicked grin. "Let me propose a counter-offer... I've gotten a little... Lonely... Lately. If you can give me a full night of...hehe... Companionship... With the occasional visits for an indeterminate amount of time, I'll take her in." She gave me a flirtatious look. "If you catch my drift..."

"Yes. I get it. You've been trying to trick me into drinking spiked tea this entire time. What's it supposed to do? Numb cognitive functions to make it easier to persuade me?"

"Dear XYZ, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" Her grin just grew as she spoke. I slammed my hands on the table and stood up.

"Don't call me that. I'm not the XYZ Pokémon Master here." I started towards the door. "... If that's really the only way to get her in... I'll think about it. You're welcome to back out of it any time you want. But I get the feeling you don't." I opened the door, and left, still unaware that Rain had slipped in, and, from what she's told me, had a little "talk" with Roxanne. Roxanne backed out of the deal less than ten minutes after I left.

I walked down the street with Skillet's "Hero" blaring in my ears. Normally, I didn't play my music loud, but sometimes, it was nice to just drown out the world. I saw a small geology shop I hadn't noticed before. Maybe they have a Mega Stone, and don't even realize it. I lowered my music and stepped in. "Keep an eye out for anything interesting, Eevee."

"Ee-veeeeeeeee-vee ," he responded.

"Shut up, Fluffball!" We looked around for a while, and found two definite Mega Stones, and one possible Mega Stone. I grabbed all three, and noticed a small box of marble sized and shaped rainbow stones with a symbol on them. The Mega symbol. "Excuse me," I said to the old, portly man behind the counter. "What are these?"

"Oh! You've got quite an eye for unusual stones, young man!" He said. "Another young man said they might be linked to a phenomenon called 'Mega Evolution.' Since we're not entirely sure, we're sellin' 'em at 75 cents each. That way, if they don't work, at least ya got a nice little souvenir! Wahahahahahaha!"

"I'll take this whole box," I said, putting a card on the counter. I left, only to have one of my earbuds pulled out. I turned to confront whoever did it. When I saw Rain's smile, all of my anger mysteriously vanished.

'Yeah... "Mysteriously."' We walked in silence to the Poké Center. Not at all an uncomfortable silence, but a silence nonetheless. Before we could go in, the time for action arose.

"STOP, THIEF!" We both looked down the street at the main gates to Devon Corp. headquarters, and saw the same member of Team Aqua I had encountered in the woods running out with something under his arm. Alan was running after him, but was nowhere near as fast. "COME BACK WITH THOSE GOODS!"

"Let's go," I said, stuffing my shopping bag into my backpack. She and I both started running at them. "HEY, PIRATE BOY! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of-GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND LET ME FINISH MY ONE-LINER, YOU PRICK!" I screamed when he saw us and turned to his left.

"You know him?" Rain asked.

"Yeah, kinda. Guy's a fucking dick."

Alan gave us a quick run-down of the situation. I texted Chase and Burns, and they caught up. We were on our way toward Rusturf Tunnel, which had recently been blocked on the inside due to an earthquake. "We'll keep any trainers from getting in the way," Burns said, tilting his head toward Chase. "Then, once you guys are in, we'll guard the entrance!"

"Thanks, guys! Let's go!" Chase and Carburn both ran up to some trainers, a young girl and a hiker, and battled them to keep our path clear. When we got to the cave, there was an elderly man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and boating shoes was outside the cave. "Mr. Briney!" Rain and I ran up to him.

"Are you okay, sir?" She asked him.

"George," he said. "They took Peeko again. Please save her, lad!"

"As you've ordered, captain!" Rain and I ran into the cave. We soon found the grunt holding the goods and Peeko the Wingull.

"Don't come any closer!" He said. I pulled out a Pokéball and stepped forward. "Damn! I was hoping you'd buy the bluff..."

"Now where was I? Oh, yeah. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of you're fucked."

"I'm gettin' real tired of you, kid!"

"And I'm sick of your shit." He sent out Poochyena. I sent out Sceptile. Rain hid behind me. "I guess it's time to go from elementary school..." I pulled my left sleeve up to reveal my Mega Ring. "To College." I tapped the Mega Ring. "Mega... EVOLUTION!"

Sceptile began to Mega Evolve. Rain was so mystefied that she stepped out from behind me and watched as Sceptile finished the process. "Sceptile! Dragon Claw!" She watched closely as the Mega Pokémon's claws and wrist fronds started glowing a deep, draconic blue, and quickly struck the Poochyena, knocking it out cold.

"Incredible, isn't it?" I said, snapping her out of her mini-trance.

"Yeah... I've never seen it in person before..." She jumped back behind me when Sceptile changed back.

"Grrrrrrrr! The boss'll have my head for this! Here! Take the damn ship parts!" Said the grunt. He left the cave at a leisurely pace. I hid my Mega Ring again as Mr. Briney walked in.

"Peeko! Thank goodness you're okay!" He cried. "Thank ye both! You saved Peeko! If you need, I'll ferry you an' yer friends to Dewford or Slateport anytime!" He left the cave with Peeko on his shoulder. Rain and I followed, talking about Mega Evolution.

"You're all here! Good! The president of Devon Corp. wants to meet with you!"

"Thank you for saving our staff and recovering those parts, kids!" The president said. He was an average looking man, aside from his white hair, which made him look older than he really was.

"It was no problem, really," I said. The president was a good man, he really was, but he had a habit of trying people's modesty.

"Mr. Steinkreuz, I've known you for nearly seven years. Granted, our contact has been limited, but I know you've always been an easy man to please."

"Good news for Rain-Ow!"

"Careful, Burns. She hits a lot harder than I do." Suddenly, another person entered the large office.

"Hey, Dad! Sorry I'm late," said Steven. "My father and I gave decided to give the three of you special Mega items, so you can potentially Mega Evolve your Pokémon. In order for Mega Evolution to take place, however, you will also need the Mega Stone for that Pokémon."

"Wait, three? Why three?" I showed Carburn and Chase the Mega item on my wrist.

"Mr. President, if we're delivering this package to fix the ferry, I need some favors."

"Just name it, my boy. I know you'll get it done."

"Ho..."

"Ly..."

"Shit!" Mr. Stone managed to get us the penthouse suite of Rustboro's finest five-star hotel. It had three bathrooms, a kitchenette, four bedrooms with two beds each and locks on the doors (specifically for Rain), a living room, and free laundry.

"And I just asked for a clean place to stay the night!" I said, laughing.

While the others were watching tv later on, I made a phone call. "Hey, it's me. I'm thinking it's finally safe for me to have Charizard on my team again."

"Who are you switching out?" A female voice asked.

"Floatzel's been doing a lot of special training, and I think he needs a break. Then again, I think Torkoal's coming down with something. Maybe I'll switch 'em both out. Sharpedo hasn't been with me in a while."

"Got it. I'll be there tomorrow morning. Rustboro, right?"

"W-w-wait! You're not coming out here, are you?!"

"... Of course, dumbass! The Council's keeping an eye on the transporters, so I have to come to you!"

"B-But-!"

"I can't wait to meet your new friends. Bye, George!" With that, the only thing in existence I truly fear hung up the phone. I could tell my face was frozen into a face of complete horror.

"Who was that, George?" I slowly turned to my friends.

"My sister's coming to visit."

Wow. I made a lot of bad jokes in this one. Seth MacFarlane bad, not Dane Cook bad. If I wrote anything that offends you in this chapter, I'm very sorry. I know you took the time to read this and I really appreciate it, because there's probably thousands of other stories you could be reading, and you chose to read mine. I swear, I will try to fit a flock of Taillow attacking me into the next chapter. Thanks, guys and girls!

... A lot of blatant undertones, too.


	5. Chapter 5: Sibling Rvalry

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any other brand, song, product, etc. that I mention in this story. Never assume I do. Because when you assume, you make an ass out of "u" and me.

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 5: Sibling Rivalry

Floatzel and Torkoal were standing before us, ready to say farewell. Floatzel's right arm was in a sling, and Torkoal's nose was running. The Pokémon had said their good byes the night before, so now it was our turn. "Bye, you guys," Carburn said.

"I've only known you two a short while, but it's been fun!" Chase commented.

"Ooh, I'll miss you two! Take care of yourselves, okay?" Rain said, petting their heads.

"I'm sorry, guys... I let you both down..." I said. They both smiled at me, trying to convince me otherwise. I knelt down and wrapped an arm around each of them. "I promise you'll get to see the whole region soon! Once you're all healed up, we'll go everywhere you guys'll miss! I won't leave Hoenn until then! I swear it!"

The two of them hugged me back, Torkoal as much as it could without body slamming me, and we head to the lobby.

We got out of the elevator, terror still flooding my eyes. "Hey, are you gonna be okay, George?" Rain asked, genuinely concerned. She had no idea what unholy embodiment of death she was about to meet. They had already guessed I was afraid of her. I refused to describe her, so they'd spent half the night guessing what she looked like. In the process, they'd nearly scared themselves out of sleeping.

I went to the counter to check out. "Penthouse, checking out."

"Thank you for staying with us, sir! Would you be interested in the annual Rustboro Groundbreak Tournament?" He had my interest.

"Revertemur?"

"Every year for the past five years, Devon Corp. has put on a Pokémon battling tournament to celebrate the founding of the Trainers' School. It's split up into categories, so no one feels too far outmatched! It's open for anyone to enter!"

I thought for a second before answering. "I would be very interested in that." He handed me a pamphlet, and Eevee and I read it while walking to the door. "Hey, guys, their having a tournament tomorrow! If I know anything about my sister, she'll want to sight-see, so we'll be here anyway," I told them when I walked out the door.

"Sounds like fun! And maybe Espurr can learn a thing or two from watching, can't you?"

"Myah!" Espurr agreed.

"Yes! Finally, a chance to show off my skills!"

"Dun!"

"And Nincada can get a little exercise!"

"Yan Yan!" It was settled. We were all entering into our own respective class tiers. Just then, a taxi pulled up. I quickly snatched the pamphlet and stuffed it into my back pocket, and put on a smile.

The door opened, and a woman of about 5'5 stepped out, effectively making her five inches shorter than Rain, the group's smallest member. She had skin paler than mine, and long, blonde hair tied back into a pony tail. The only physical feature that made our relation clear was that she had the same faded ice-blue eyes I did. She was wearing a gray t-shirt and blue skinny jeans. She was wearing an ordinary pair of gray running shoes, too. But the way Chase and Burns were staring, she could've been in a short dress, made up by professionals, and wearing six-inch heels. I smacked them both in the back of the head as hard as I could. "She's engaged, you horny bastards," I explained. Her Persian, a large, feline Pokémon got out as well. What I wasn't expecting was her fiancé to get out of the other side.

He was pretty average looking, and he didn't normally try to impress people. He was about an inch taller than her with an athletic, stocky build. His hair was neatly buzzed, and he was clean-shaven. I reached up and felt my own face. I guess I'm due for a shave myself, I thought, feeling the stubble.

He had on about the same color scheme as my sister, but he was wearing a lab coat. "Hey, Georgie!" My sister chirped. My eyebrow twitched. I hated that nickname. Soooooooo much.

"Hey, Catie. Hey, Kurt," I greeted.

"... Aren't you going to introduce us?" Catie asked, motioning to my friends. Particularly, to Rain.

"First things first. My Balls. I need 'em." Everyone but Catie and I started snickering. Even Kurt. Catie was considerably less amused. Without once changing her expression from her smile, she moved around me like a tiny whirlwind, pinning me to the ground with my arm in a position to break. All of them stopped laughing. My friends' faces changed to expressions of terror. Kurt's and Eevee's changed to mild annoyance.

"I said," she began, pressing on my arm at the emphasis to cause more pain. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Okay! Okay! I give!" She let me go. I got up, and motioned to everyone as I introduced them. "This is Chase. He's a bug catcher. This is Carburn and his partner, Dunsparce. He's our comic relief. This is Rain and her Pokémon, Espurr and Furret. She also has a Froslass."

Catie looked them all over, judging them, like one would judge a cut of meat. She smiled and introduced herself, "Hi! I'm Catie, and this is Persian, one of my partners!"

"Mraaaawww!" Persian said.

"And this is Kurt! His main partner's Arcanine!"

"Okay, now that we got that out of the way..." I held out Floatzel's and Torkoal's Pokéballs.

"Fine. Always right to the point, aren't you?" She pulled two Pokéballs from her purse, and we exchanged them. I used my Pokédex to double check they were the right ones.

Sharpedo-Lvl:36... Charizard-Lvl:100.

Good.

'Oooh, we are in BUSINESS now!'

"Thanks, Catie... Keep those two from getting themselves killed, okay?"

"Only if you can manage to keep yourself out of trouble." She joked. I could tell she was very worried, though. She'd been there when I got the scar.

I smiled. "C'mon! I take after Grandpa! You and I both know I'm not going to listen!" I turned around to find some water to let Sharpedo out of its ball into. Catie saw the pamphlet in my pocket, and snatched it.

"What's this?" I winced. "George, are you entering this tournament?"

"Yyyyyyeeeeeaaaahhhh... I was hoping you could... Cheer from the sidelines?"

"Hell no!" Her expression was one of anger. She got on her tip-toes to be (more or less) eye-level with me. "I'm going to enter, and beat you!" She hissed. Then I got competitive.

"You haven't beaten me in a battle in eight years. Just try to win now. I'll just smash you into the ground again," I hissed back. We were trying to stare each other down. I could see her eyes were ablaze with determination, and I knew mine were the same.

"Oh, boy," Kurt sighed. "There they go again."

"Vee..."

While Kurt and Catie went sight-seeing, the rest of us went to the lake just outside of town. "Sharpedo! Charizard! Come on out!" Two Pokéballs opened mid-air. Out of them came an aquatic Pokémon with a dark blue body, a white underbelly, yellow markings on its body, and read eyes, and a large dragon like Pokémon with orange skin, a pale yellow underbelly, blue eyes, two horns on its head, a brilliant flame on its tail, and blue coloring to the inside of its wings.

The aquatic Pokémon, Sharpedo, made an ecstatic sound, whereas Charizard roared, and launched at me. I couldn't get out of the way. "GEORGE!" Rain screamed in horror.

She went from terrified to confused when she saw Charizard had me in a bear-hug. My Charizard is unique in many ways. The most notable is his height. Normally, Charizard are a little under six foot tall. My Charizard is a foot taller than average.

I was laughing loudly. "I missed you, too, bud! But... It's getting a little hard to breathe..." Charizard let me down, and introduced himself to the others and their Pokémon. Espurr climbed off of Rain's shoulder and onto Charizard's head. Furret started sniffing him all over, to make sure he was safe to hang around. Charizard, in turn, brought his head down, and looked scrutinizingly at Rain.

"Uh... Hi, Charizard..." I could tell she was nervous, so I walked over, and took her hand, and put it out for Charizard to sniff.

"Don't be scared. He may be big, but he's a complete pushover outside of battle." As I said that, Charizard enveloped Rain in a friendly bear-hug, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "He likes you!"

"I noticed!" Charizard put Rain down, and looked around, eyes wide with curiosity. I chuckled again, because Rain's legs were a little wobbly. I took her hand to help support her until her legs woke up a bit more. We looked at each other and laughed, not breaking eye contact.

In her eyes, I could see a sort of amazement, as well as boundless kindness and warmth. That is, until Espurr jumped back onto her head, and used Barrier like a large finger to force me to break eye contact. Rain started laughing at Espurr's over protectiveness, and I started laughing, too.

Then frickin' Burns had to open his mouth. " Rain and George, sittin' in a-" SMACK! Complete silence

"... What?" Chase said. "Someone had to shut him up!" The three of us laughed, as well as all the Pokémon.

"Why, Bug Man?!" I wasn't entirely sure what Chase said.

But it sounded like, "Insulting a man's ship be worse than insulting his mother!"

"Okay!" I said. "Kurt and Catie are both double S-class trainers like me, so they'll be in the 'S-class & up' tier with Rain and I! That means Burns and Chase, you two are on your own on this one!"

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Burns asked.

"I don't know. Ice cream. Souvenir shopping. How ever you want to procrasti-" I was suddenly attacked by the flock of Taillow that I'd pissed off in Littleroot. I screamed and ran around like an idiot. Rain tried to shoo them away. Furret tried to help. Eevee tried to deter them with a Shadow Ball to no avail. Charizard tried to scare them off. Chase searched frantically for a Repel. Carburn and Espurr were on the ground. They couldn't breathe. They were laughing too hard.

After the Taillow left, and first-aid was admitted, we split into two groups for training. "Alright! Sunni, Sharpedo, you two are up first," I said cheerfully. I set up some targets for the two of them. "Sunni, Dazzling Gleam! Aerial Ace! Mist! Sing!"

She shot bursts of light at the first target, hitting the bullseye. Then she flew at top speed and nailed the second target in the bullseye as well. Next, she opened her beak, and mist poured out of it, enveloping her, and she flew around the target, creating a fog around it. Finally, I covered my ears as Sunni began to sing a lullaby. Her final target, Charizard, quickly dozed off. As did Rain. And Espurr. And Furret. And Eevee and Sharpedo, too. "You may need to learn to focus that more!" I said. Sunni landed on Charizard's belly, quite pleased with her abilities.

I set Eevee down next to Furret, and looked at Rain. She was sleeping peacefully, so I decided to wake her up gently. 'Or you could take her back to the room at the Poké Center-'

Suggest that ever again, and I will fucking end you. Permanently. Got it?

'I was just joking-'

Well it wasn't fucking funny. I gently put my hand against her cheek. She started to stir.

"Five more minutes..." She mumbled sleepily, rolling over in her sleep.

"Five more minutes," I whispered, smiling.

I managed to wake up Sharpedo and Charizard, but Eevee was out like a light. Luckily, Sharpedo was fully energized when it woke up, which made training a lot easier. Froslass managed to let herself out of her Pokéball, so I set up some targets for her to practice on until Rain woke up. "Sharpedo! Aqua Jet! Slash! Crunch! Ice Fang!" Sharpedo became enveloped in water and shot itself at a target. it missed, and slashed at another target with its fin. It hit the target, but was a little off. Then, it bit down on a third target, reducing it to crumbs (for biting techniques, I used some giant poffins). Finally, its many teeth started glowing. It bit down on the final target, which froze in its maw.

The sun was setting, and Sharpedo was still having trouble with Aqua Jet and Slash. "Don't get upset, Sharpedo! Look at this as an opportunity to find a special technique!" I said. It seemed to cheer Sharpedo up. "Let's take a break for dinner!"

"YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWN!" I looked over to see Rain finally waking up from her sleep. A while back, I had opened up my sleeping bag like a picnic blanket and set her on it, and put a pillow under her head. That was probably why her hair was all messed up when she sat up. "Mm... I thought I heard something about food?" She said sleepily.

"Yeah. I was just about to grill some steaks for dinner."

"Oh. Fantastic. Just wake me up when it's time to-DINNER?!" Her eyes were wide from the fact that it was now right around 6:30 in the evening. I smiled and laughed a little.

"Sunni's got quite the singing voice, doesn't she?"

"Why didn't you wake me up right away?!"

"I tried, but you said 'five more minutes.' I tried again five minutes later, but you looked just so damn cute, I couldn't bring myself to wake you up." She started blushing.

"D-Did you just say... I'm cute?"

"Yeah, I did." She blushed even more violently, and I smiled. "What're you going to do about it?"

I was really not expecting what she did about it.

When our lips finally came apart, she said, "Not a word to anyone... Not yet at least." I was too stunned to speak, so I just nodded. "Good! Now get to work on those steaks, mister! I've got some training to catch up on!"

I smiled widely. "Yes ma'am!" I said, giving a small salute.

This... This had to be the best day of my life, I thought, laying in bed.

'We can't get too comfortable! What if she gets kidnapped by demons?! Or taken by angels?! OH, GOD, SHE MIGHT BE ON FIRE ON THE CEILING RIGHT NOW!'

... I think I should stay away from Supernatural for a while.

'Awww, but I love that show!'

I can tell.

"Ee?"

"I'm fine, Eevee. Just thinking."

"... Ee-Eevee Eevee vee-vee?"

"None of your business, that's what happened while you were out."

"Eevee, Vee!"

"Sorry, bud. You snooze, you lose!" Eevee thumped me lightly with his paw for the pun. I chuckled deviously at Eevee's frustration. "Another time, buddy. Just not now."

The morning of the tournament went as follows; Eevee and I woke up intensely. We brushed our teeth intensely. Got dressed. Intensely! I decided to put on a pair of fingerless riding gloves ("motorcycle riding," you sick fucks!) and we ran to the battlefields they had put up outside of Devon Corp.'s front door.

There were four of them. One for each tier group. There was the "S-class & above" field the furthest from the front gates. It was also the largest, since all of the larger Pokémon would be there.

Then there was the "A-class" field right next to it, and next to that was the "B-class" field. And closest to the gate was the "C-class & below" field, which was the smallest. That's where any new trainers and small children would be battling.

"What do you think? Dad did a pretty good job, if I say so myself." I looked to my right, and standing there was Steven Stone.

"It's fantastic," I replied. "Are you competing, too, Steven?"

"No, I'll just be watching. I heard that your sister's entering, and I couldn't bear to miss seeing such sibling rivalry!" I looked back at the fields somberly.

"... She got Scizorite, didn't she?"

"Yes. The last one I had in stock. May I ask what happened to her original one?"

"She traded it for my grandpa's golden Pokéball, which someone had stolen and sold."

"There's that 'legendary peacekeeper' gene showing."

"I must'a missed that one." He laughed.

"Just because it hasn't shown itself in you doesn't mean it's not there." With that, he left.

"... Hey, Eevee."

"Vee?"

"Do you think I'll ever be like Grandpa?"

"Eevee!"

"Welcome to the 5th annual Rustboro Groundbreak Tournament! I hope you brought a seat cushion, because you'll be on the edge of it the whole time!" The crowd cheering. The announcer hyping them up. I thought back to a few months ago. 'I thought this is why you left!' Zyx complained.

No... I left because I couldn't take Romulan's insanity. One day, however, I will take his place, and restore honor to the Council!

"Now! Let's begin!" The announcer shouted. The rules for us were pretty straightforward. You could only use three Pokémon per battle, but you could change them up between battles. The final battle will be six-on-six, no substitutions. Other than that, all's fair game, besides the obvious rules and regulations of the League.

Most of my battles are a blur. And during all of Rain's, I was so focused on her, I didn't watch the actual battle. Then, before I knew it, "The four trainers in the S-class and above category to move on to the semi-finals are... George, Kurt, Catie, and Rain!" Thunderous applause. "The first of the two battles shall be George versus Kurt!" I got back on the field, knowing Kurt's team already.

"Oh, this'll be fun!" Kurt called across the field.

"Hmph! You're just a stepping stone to battling Catie!" I called back. It wasn't trash talk, it was just a friendly competition of confidence before the battle.

"Begin!"

"Go! Nidoking!" Kurt cried, throwing his first Pokéball into the air. From it came a large, purple, spiky beast with a thick body and a long tail.

"Eevee, you're up!" I used my arm to launch Eevee into battle, like I'd done a few days ago. The two of them eyed each other, waiting for the first move.

"Iron Tail!" Kurt and I yelled in tandem. Nidoking swung low, trying to hit Eevee on the ground, but Eevee was too fast. He started spinning like a wheel, and slammed his Iron Tail on Nidoking's head.

"Shadow Ball!" I called. Eevee shot a ball of shadowy energy at Nidoking without hesitation.

After that, I fell into a sort of battlefield trance. I can't remember the whole battle, but I remember Pidgeot and Arcanine... "And the winner is... George!" I woke up from my battle-trance, and saw that I'd won. I gave Kurt an apologetic look. He held up a hand to show it was fine.

Catie did not find it fine at all. She went all out against Rain with Spiritomb, Scizor, and Arbok. Her A-Team. It was clear Catie was in a battle-trance of her own when one of Arbok's Poison Jab attacks hit Rain in the arm and Catie didn't notice. My vision went red. No! I have to... Stay calm... Strategy... Strategy... I knew how to handler Catie in a battle-trance, but this one was different. It was like she was possessed. "Are you okay?" I asked Rain.

"I'm fine," she said. "And if I'm not, that's what the paramedics are here for!" She walked to the first aid center, and I turned my attention to Catie.

"Let's settle this. Once and for all."

Three hours into battle. She's down to one Pokémon. I still have three left. It's a battle between Charizard and Scizor. Luckily, Catie's snapped out of her battle-trance, and feeling fine. I, on the other hand, am feeling everything Charizard feels. And I felt like shit.

"Not bad! I didn't expect you to last this long, Georgie!"

'Oh, now she done it.' I slammed my Mega Ring. Catie slammed her Mega Pendant.

"Mega... EVOLUTION!" We both cried in tandem. Scizor and Charizard were both enveloped in light. When it dispersed, Charizard's wings had grown. He now had a third horn atop his head, flap-like protrusions on his arms, a longer tail, and a bigger flame at the end of it. He Mega Evolved into Mega Charizard Y.

Scizor had grown. Its pincers had become mor scissor-like, and its eyes turned blue, but beyond that, there wasn't much change. The sunlight suddenly grew stronger.

"Charizard! BLAST BURN!" I called. Charizard summoned as much power as it could, and fired a huge fireball at Scizor which exploded into a pillar of fire.

When the flames subsided, Scizor fell. Catie was shocked. "Rule one of battling me, Catie," I said as Charizard reverted to its normal form. "Never give me a four x weakness opening." The crowd erupted.

"George Steinkreuz has won! His prize is... A one year free subscription to Devon Corp.'s special assistance services! Anything you need is a phone call away for one full year!"

"Oh well... At least you can make use of that prize here. Kurt and I should head back. See you later, little brother." Charizard and I both fell onto our backs. We started laughing.

"That shit was insane, huh big guy?" Charizard growled in agreement.

Since the path back to the Petalburg side of Petalburg Woods was easier to traverse than the other way around, we decided to wait till morning. That way, we could hit the beach for a little (more) R&R. Then, we could hitch a ride with Mr. Briney to Dewford.

"I've made my decision!" Rain declared at dinner.

"What's that?" Asked Chase through a mouthful of ramen.

"George is a certified substitute Gym Leader, and, according to the laws, can mentor a Glit."

"Yep. It's all official," I said. Rain got up and took her dishes to the conveyer belt that whisked them away to the teenagers who would wash them. Then, she came back, kissed my cheek, and sat back down.

"Wait, you're dating her, too?! That can't be legal!" Carburn spat.

"As long as I don't show favoritism over the other Glits in my care, it's fine. And, since there are none..."

"Anything goes," Rain finished. We high-fived, then went back to the room we were staying in. It had a changing stall in it, in case of a situation similar to ours.

"What happened to secrecy?" I asked her once we'd both changed for bed.

"They were going to figure it out sooner or later."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that." She smiled, and sat down next to me.

"Okay! Time for the oh-so-great Pokémon master to reveal more of his past!" Of course she wouldn't forget.

"When my sister and I were little, Grandpa would push us on the tire swing he had in the back yard and sing us old sea shanties. Not only that, but sometimes, we'd go get donuts, and he would feed bits of his to wild Pokémon from his hand."

"Wow. You talk about your grandpa a lot. He must be a great man!"

I smiled, and a tear rolled down my face. "He was."

See? I told ya I'd get that Taillow attack in! In case you guys are wondering, yes, my grandpa is no longer with us. He, um... He passed away a couple months ago from Lymphoma. It was his third bout with cancer. The stubborn old man didn't go without a fight, though. He was a great man, he was the greatest man I'd ever known, despite some things in his childhood that could've lead him to be... Not such a great man, but... He was always there to help, even when there was nothing you needed. I'd really like to dedicate this chapter specifically to his memory, even though he never knew a damn thing about Pokémon, he loved stories. So, that's all I got for this chapter. See you later!

Everyone really misses you, Grandpa.


	6. Chapter 6:Legacy of Legend

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or any other brand, product, etc. I mention in this story. Does anyone even read these? Well, lawyers, I guess. Hi, copyright infringement lawyers! How's than new firm you're working with?

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 6: Legacy of Legend

As we predicted, we managed to get through the forest in about an hour. But for the past fifteen minutes, I felt like someone or something was following us. I figured it was nothing.

"It's such a nice day!" Rain chimed happily. It was true. It was warm and sunny without a bit of wind or a cloud in the sky. There were a few Hoppip in the sky on a soft breeze from a flock of Wingull flying past. A perfect day for the beach.

"Mr. Briney lives by the beach. We could stop by there and change quick," I commented, pointing to the small, seaside cottage.

"Nooice!" Burns exclaimed. Suddenly, I heard a distant buzzing, followed by a sort of slurping sound.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked.

"Hm? Hear what, George?" Rain asked back.

"I can't believe it. He's finally lost it. And so soon, too," Carburn remarked.

"Given present company, it's amazing he lasted this long," Chase quipped in response. The two had stricken up a friendship rather quickly. As a result, I referred to them as the "Dumbnamic Duo."

"Eevee Ee,-vee!"

"Oh, you heard it, too. So I'm not crazy," I said. "Well, not that crazy. Yet." We started towards the cottage, and Eevee, Furret, Dunsparce, and Yanma started singing an all-Pokémon, acappella quartet version of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Led by Eevee, of course. They sang so loud, we couldn't make conversation, and didn't shut up 'til we got to the old man's door.

"Wow. Pretty snazzy place," Chase admired.

"Yeah, if you come from a shotgun shack," Carburn said.

"I do come from a shotgun shack."

"Oh. Huh." I rolled my eyes and knocked on the door. Mr. Briney opened it with a wide grin.

"George, my boy! So nice of ya ta visit! Come on in, the lot of ya!" We all walked into the small house, and Peeko flew around us in greeting. "So! What brings you lot ta my cottage?"

"We were actually going to go to the beach, and we figured we'd stop by," Rain explained.

"Myah!" Espurr agreed. Furret climbed off of her shoulders and started sniffing around a bit.

"Well, if yer headed ta the beach, maybe ya can figure out why I've been unable to sail out! Some lot told me I couldn't. Said it had somethin' to do with storms, or somethin'."

"Actually, do you mind if we change here?" I asked.

"Go right ahead! The bathroom's right down the hall!"

I looked at Rain. "Ladies first."

To Carburn's and Chase's (and slightly my) dismay, when Rain returned, she was still in her hoodie and shorts. The only change she had made was from her running shoes to flip-flops. Espurr managed to lift himself up and into her hood. He was getting a lot better at controlling his psychic powers.

Next, I changed into a pair of dark green swimming trunks and a neon green t-shirt, as well as a pair of water-shoes. Carburn wore red trunks and a gray tank top, and Chase put on honey-yellow with a hive design, keeping his camo jacket and sandals.

We left Mr. Briney's house, thanking him for his hospitality. "No worries!" He said as we left. "Come back anytime ya feel like!"

The beach had been blocked off by official looking people in tan uniforms. Probably some kind of government investigation agency or something. "Sorry, folks," said one of them. "The beach is closed indefinitely. Ongoing investigation."

He had a gun, so I figured it was best not to argue. "Okay. We'll try again later," I responded.

"The Hell, you will!" I looked at the source of the voice. It was big, old guy with a thick, brown beard, and a matching head of hair, which appeared to form a mane that framed his face. His skin was tanned darker than mine, but marked with many scars. He wore the same color of tan the others were wearing, but he wore it as if it was all he had to wear. The scary part of which is it probably was.

"Kenny! How the hell are you?" I replied.

"Pissed as all hell that you think you can walk away from an old friend who needs a damn hand in this case." Though his tone carried no trace of positivity, I knew it was there. The guard saluted his superior, shaking in his boots. No, seriously, the dude was literally shaking all over except his boots! It was insane!

"S-Sir? You know this person?"

"I should hope so," Kenny said. "I was his grandad's best friend for almost fifty years."

"So what's the case?" I asked as the five of us (Pokémon excluded) walked along the beach.

"Radical weather changes and monstrous roars in tandem. We ain't got a clue," Kenny said. I smiled and chuckled.

"I do." I walked to the edge of the water, and watched the sky. Sure enough, dark clouds started gathering. "Watch this." I put my hand in the water.

Suddenly, a loud, monstrous roar sounded as a large shape leaped out of the water about a thousand feet from where we were, and rain started coming down. The shape swam right towards me, stopping mere inches away.

The Pokémon was enormous and blue. It had red, bioluminescent streaks along its body. It had large fins on either side of its body, and four smaller rear fins. I smiled. "Just as I suspected! Hey, big guy! What's up?" All of the others were in shock as I pet the enormous Water-type Pokémon, and as Eevee yipped happily to it.

Carburn pulled out his Pokédex, and aimed it at the beast. "Kyogre, the Sea Basin Pokémon," it announced. "Kyogre is named in mythology as the Pokémon that expanded the sea by covering the land with torrential rains and towering tidal waves. It took to sleep after a cataclysmic battle with Groudon."

"It doesn't look very sleepy to me!" Chase exclaimed.

"Yeah, that Pokédex entry's a little out of date," I laughed. "They both woke up about six years ago, because of Team Aqua and Team Magma. A friend of mine, Brendan, helped them settle their feud. Now, then. Let's just see what this fuss is about..." I let Charizard out of his ball. "Help me with this, okay, bud?"

Charizard growled his agreement. He held Kyogre's mouth open while I found the source of its aggravation. I looked around and found a cracked tooth.

"Don't worry, Kyogre. We'll get you fixed up," I told it as I texted Brendan.

Brendan was there in five minutes. He flew in on his Salamence, which was smaller than my own, with a bag of specialized tools. "'Bout time. Where's Wally?" I asked. Brendan was a lean guy with brown hair and gray eyes. He wasn't out of shape in any sense, but he was lean, making him look more acrobatic than anything. He was 5'10 now, and he was six months older than me, but I had more experience. He was wearing a pair of shorts and running shoes, as well as a black shirt with an orange stripe from the collar to the hem, as well as his trademark oddly shaped knit hat.

"Wally had some business to tend to, so he told me how to fix Kyogre's tooth!" He said happily. He walked straight into the Pokémon's enormous mouth, pulled out a caulking gun, and applied a thick, white paste like substance to Kyogre's tooth, and used a flat object to smoothen it.

"So that'll do it?" I asked.

"Yep!" Brendan replied.

"Good. That means we can pack up and open the beach again as soon as tomorrow. Until then, place is all yours, kids. Consider it payment for helpin' with the case," Kenny said. He started walking toward the Petalburg City side of the beach. Brendan also took his leave, having "official Champion stuff" to take care of.

I'm 99% sure he meant "My girlfriend's horny."

We set up our tents, put some towels on the beach, and started hanging out. Since Kyogre had left, the sun came back out, and it was a perfect day again. Rain had gone into her tent a couple of minutes ago, but I was fishing to see what would bite. I put on a pair of sunglasses, and watched my bobber.

'Ah, nice day to hook a Tentacool,' Zyx quipped.

Hey, at least it's something to do, I retorted. I heard the zipper on Rain's tent door open, and turned around to see her wearing a black two-piece bikini.

'Hot. Damn.'

Agreed. I couldn't stop staring. I could sort of see something red dripping from Carburn's nose. Chase fainted.

"VEE!" Eevee smacked me in the back of the head with his tail. Hard. I, in turn, smacked Burns in the back of the head. A little harder than I meant to. Which was saying something, because the intended force was already pretty decent.

"I-Is this alright? It's not too revealing or anything, is it?" She asked.

"Noooooo, of course not!" I responded. "We have the beach to ourselves, so it'll be fine!"

"Okay then. If you say so. Uh... What's that?" I looked over my shoulder and saw some Lotad walking out of the water.

"Oh, those are Lotad. They're a Water and Grass-type Pokémon."

"I know, but what are they doing here?"

"Probably using the rain from Kyogre's Drizzle to heal themselves. Some Lotad have an ability called 'Rain Dish' that lets them recover HP when it's raining."

"That's so cool!" She ran over towards them with Furret running beside her and Espurr riding Furret like a Ponyta. The Lotad looked at her, but, being generally friendly Pokémon, greeted her like an old friend. "Awww! They're so cute!"

"But they're Grass-types. I thought you were terrified of Grass-types."

"Some Grass-types I don't mind."

"Like what?" She thought for a few seconds.

"Well... I like Hoppip's whole evolutionary line... Bellosom... Bulbasaur are generally okay... And dual Water and Grass I can handle... Oh, and Pumpkaboo and Phantump."

Maybe I can use that to help her get over her fear, I thought. For the next couple of hours, we sort of just relaxed, swam, and in general, had fun.

Then these assholes showd up. "Hey, brats! This is our beach!" Said some lanky guy with a leather vest, a pair of shorts, and a pompadour that added a decent foot to his height.

"Yeah, get lost!" Hissed the girl clinging to his arm. She was wearing a similar leather vest with a bikini top underneath, and a pair of frayed Daisy Dukes. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, but her bangs were loose.

"Locals only!" Claimed the biggest one of the three. He, too, had a vest and a pair of shorts, but his hair was buzzed. He was about as wide as he was tall. And that fucker was tall.

Being the genius that I am, I said, "How'd you even get in? There were blockades, 'n' guards, 'n' shit over there. And, uh..." I looked around the beach. "I'm pretty sure this place is open to the public, just like your girlfriend's legs."

He did not appreciate that. I could tell because he pulled a gun on me. "What'd you say, motherfucker?" I hadn't flinched at all when he pulled the gun, and I was staring down the barrel with the same unimpressed expression.

"Oh, you mean about the beach, or about your girl being open day or night to anyone like a temple?"

"I could kill you by just squeezing my hand-"

"Then do it. Go ahead and blow me away." His hand shook, but came no closer to ending my life. "You can't do it. You were hoping for an intimidation factor. But I've stared down the barrel of a gun more times than you could imagine."

The girl looked at the leader. "Don't listen to him, baby. He's trying to psych you out," she told him. He turned his attention to her, giving me an opening. I grabbed his arm and spun around, putting him in an arm bar hold, which put the gun's barrel directly between his eyes.

He started to freak out and cry in fear. "It's amazing how quickly and radically someone changes when they're staring down the barrel, isn't it?" I asked. I had my finger on the hammer to keep it from falling.

"P-P-Pleeeeaaaase! I-I'll never bother anyone ever again! Just please let me live!" He cried. I managed to get the gun out of his hands and walked back to my friends.

"Tell you what. I'm in a sporting mood today. We'll have a battle to settle this. One-on-one. You win, we'll leave and forget you threatened us. We win, we get to stay. And you devote yourselves to protecting this beach for everyone. Not just yourself."

He got off the ground. "Deal," he said, a newfound respect for me in his eyes. He threw a Pokéball into the air. "Tentacruel! Let's do it!" Behind me, Charizard roared.

"Tentacruel, Poison Jab!" The large blue Pokémon launched several tentacles and a claw like appendage at Charizard, all glowing purple. Charizard dodged them all with ease. "Now Hydro Pump!" Charizard dodged once again. "Ice Beam!"

"Flamethrower!" The two attacks collided, and exploded into a cool haze.

"Confuse Ray!" Tentacruel released a burst of light which reflected off of the ice particles in the haze, creating a cloud of brainwashing light. I shielded my eyes, hoping the others would be smart enough to do the same. Rain was, at least. Chase and Carburn stood there, as if they were zombies, with their minds temporarily fogged by the Confuse Ray. I already knew Charizard had been hit. Mostly because he flew straight at me.

I did the only thing I could think of. I tapped into our spiritual bond, and reached out to him with my aura. Charizard! Stop! Charizard stopped not six inches from me. The force caused a gust that hit Rain and I, almost causing her to lose her balance. Good boy! Now let's teach these guys a lesson in battling. I could feel Charizard's agreement.

"Tentacruel! Hydro Pump!"

In the air! Charizard flew into the sky, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the powerful stream of water. I tapped my Mega Ring, which caused it to glow with a rainbow aura. "Mega... Evolution!" Charizard Mega Evolved into Mega Charizard Y, and, thanks to his Drought ability, made the sunlight suddenly harsh. Solar Beam. Charizard absorbed solar energy, and fired it at Tentacruel, blasting it into the water and knocking it out. My opponent smiled and called back his Tentacruel.

"Great job, Tentacruel... After the way I've been treatin' you, you deserve a long rest."

"Ah, now that's what I call 'relaxing!'" I said once Charizard changed back and landed at my side.

"Yeah. It was fun. And a deal's a deal! From now on, the three of us'll do better for the community. Hopefully, the people in Petalburg'll forgive us for what we did," he said back.

"Well, I'm not exactly one for gang activity, but a community service organization is something I can get behind," Kenny stated as he walked up to us. "C'mon. I'll teach you what I can. I got a place in Petalburg with some spare rooms you can use. And you'll need funding. And a mentor."

"R-Really? A place to call our own? Oh, thank you!" The girl cried. Kenny smiled and chuckled warmly.

"It'll be nice to have some young folk to help out around the place again. C'mon. We got good work to do!" With that, they walked away.

"So..." Rain chimed in. "How'd you do that with Charizard?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's like he did exactly what you wanted without you saying anything."

"... He and I have a deep bond on a spiritual level. We can communicate without speaking. Sort of like telepathy." She smiled and looked up at him.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" She scratched him right behind his right horn. His face changed to an expression of pure ecstasy, and his foot started involuntarily slamming against the ground repeatedly.

I laughed. "That's his favorite spot to be scratched." Charizard suddenly wrapped Rain in a hug. I laughed even harder. "I think he likes you!"

"Duuuuude..." I heard Burns say behind me. "I think... I think the earth might be moving!"

"I really hope that wears off soon. Last time I traveled with a stoner, I almost starved."

Oh, wow. This one took longer to write than I thought. Hopefully, I didn't leave you with too many feels last chapter. This one got a little dark, too. But it got a little better.

Maybe I should start talking to a therapist again... Well, whatever. See ya next time!


	7. Chapter 7: Megas! Pt 1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any other brands, products, etc. that I mention in this story. Okay, how many more times do I have to do this before I can't be sued? Oh, shit, did that record?!

Pokémon: Zeta Advance

Chapter 7:You get a Mega! You get a Mega! Everybody gets a Mega! Pt. 1

We were all sitting around the campfire making s'mores a couple hours later. The Confuse Ray that had hit Carburn and Chase had worn off. Espurr was learning how to play tag from Eevee, Furret, Dunsparce, and Yanma. Charizard was cooking hotdogs over his tail flame. Suddenly, he, Eevee, Furret, Espurr and I all paused and looked towards the forest. We all heard the buzzing noise again. And it was getting closer.

"Get down!" I shouted just before a large shape shot towards us from the forest's direction. Everyone hit the dirt-er, sand, and the shape slammed into Chase's bag, hit the ground, and tumbled to a stop with something in its hands.

"My bag! What did it take?!" Chase cried. I shined a flashlight at the shape, revealing it to be blue and insect-like with a single giant horn. A Heracross. It was eating out of a jar of honey.

"It's a Heracross!" I laughed. "Looks like he was hungry!" Carburn pulled out his Pokédex.

"Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon. They gather in forests seeking the sweet sap of trees. It is completely clad in a steel-hard shell. It is proud of its horn, which it uses to throw its foes."

"But what's it doing here?" Burns asked. I pulled out my own Pokédex, and looked at his level. Heracross: Lvl-20.

"His level's way out of the area's normal range. What're you doing all the way out here, Heracross?" Heracross looked up at me from his honey, and blinked a couple of times.

He clicked and trilled happily, telling me he got lost in a storm about a week ago.

"He said he got lost on a windy day, and chose to stay in the forest."

"This is awesome!" Chase said excitedly. "I've always wanted a Heracross, but they're really rare where I'm from!" He pulled out two Pokéballs, and tossed one to let out Nincada. "Hey, Heracross! When you're done eating, I want to battle with you, and try to catch you! Okay?" Heracross chirped his agreement, and went back to the honey.

Heracross and Nincada stood faced each other, standing about thirty feet apart. Heracross still had the honey jar in his hand, even though he had licked it clean. "Nincada, Scratch!" Nincada launched itself at Heracross. Heracross sidestepped to the left and avoided damage. Then, he brought his arm around, and thrust it into Nincada's side.

"Clearly, he knows Arm Thrust," I commented. "I wonder what else he's got..."

"Nincada, use Harden, then Dig!" Nincada clenched all of its muscles, raising its Defense, then burrowed under ground. Heracross didn't know what to do to defend. Nincada shot up and struck him from behind. I saw something in the air shining. Probably a rock. Wait... It couldn't be... "Pokéball, go!" Chase threw a Pokéball at Heracross, and the large Pokémon was sucked inside. The Pokéball shook once... Twice... Three times... Click!

"Hey! Yo caught 'em! Good job, Bug Boy!" Burns congratulated him.

"Yeah! For a new Pokémon, Nincada was really in sync with you!"

"Fur-ret!"

"Myyah!"

"Eevee! Vee?" Eevee saw I wasn't paying attention. Then I realized what the shining object falling back to earth was.

A Mega Stone! "Eevee! Double Grapple, now!" Eevee understood, and grabbed my left forearm with his legs and tail, using Double Team to create an Eevee chain, which I used to catch the Stone. "Got it!" The Eevee at the end of the chain passed it up, then disappeared. This happened until I was holding it, and Eevee returned to my shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Yan?"

"It's a Mega Stone. Heracronite, to be specific."

"What does that mean?" I tossed it to Chase.

"It'll make Heracross Mega Evolve."

"So I should..."

"Give it to Heracross as a hold item." I motioned towards Charizard, specifically to the item hanging from his neck. His Mega Stone. Charizard ate another hotdog, enjoying the flavor.

"Whoa! Cool! I wonder what Dunsparce's Mega form looks like?"

"Sparce!"

"Uh, Burns? Dunsparce don't Mega Evolve."

"Vee."

"Damn!"

The others went to their tents while Charizard, Eevee, and I sat outside. The two of them were stargazing while I started drawing in the sand. Let's see if I still know how to do this...

'Finally pullin' out some magic, huh?'

You know there's no such thing as magic! It's aura manipulation! I felt a pair of feminine arms wrap around my neck and a pair of lips kiss my neck softly.

"What're you up to now?" Rain asked, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"It's an aura circle," I explained. "Some people can use them for different reasons." I finished the detailed, circular form, brought my palms together, and touched them to my artwork. A burst of green light burst from the circle as sand shifted, unearthing a giant ruby, along with an equally large sapphire.

"Incredible..." Rain whispered. "How is that even possible?"

"Okay. Religious rant time!"

"Yippee..."

"Shush." I started drawing in the sand again. "In the beginning, a supreme being existed before all else. God, Allah, Vishnu, Brahman, whatever you want to call Him. He created a world. This one. He filled it with creatures with incredible powers; the original Pokémon, Mew.

"He then decided that the world must be governed by a being with the power to create. He chose a group of Mew to help this being learn of the world as it changed. They are some of the ancestors of the Mew that live today. He created an egg. From it was born Arceus.

"Arceus, needing help to rule this world, created its first creature. This being would be Arceus' darker counterpart, being a spirit of vengeance, death, and darkness. This being was Giratina. Though Giratina wasn't an evil being in any sense, it was violent. It sought to punish all who had done wrong. And since no creature was without sin, Arceus banished it to the Distortion World.

"Knowing it needed new helpers, Arceus created two eggs. One bore Palkia, the dragon of space. The other, Dialga, the dragon of time. The two of them created a homeland, what we call the Sinnoh region today. Though the Mew had inadvertently created new species, and the world was beautiful, the supreme being knew that chaos would envelop the world if they all gained advanced intelligence. So, He created mankind.

"Arceus saw this great gift from the supreme one, and bore three more eggs. From them were born Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie. When Mespirit first took flight, emotions were born, granting humans the ability to feel love, happiness, sorrow, anger, rage, and compassion. When Azelf first took flight, willpower was born, granting humans free will, courage, determination, and, in some, the ability to manipulate aura. When Uxie first took flight, knowledge was born, granting humans intelligence, wisdom, and ingenuity, and, to those who could manipulate aura, knowledge of how to use their powers.

"After the creation of those eggs, Arceus used the last of his power to organize these aura-bending humans as Aura Guardians, and increase the power of twenty of them. He then went into a deep slumber, awaiting the day he would be needed again.

"Incredible, huh-?" Rain had fallen asleep during my speech. I sighed deeply. "I guess not everyone's interested in history lessons, huh, bud-?" Eevee was sprawled on the ground, snoring. "Oh, not you, too!"

The next morning, I changed my clothes. Steven wanted to meet up in Dewford Cave, and he needed something more durable than his favorite hoodie to get through it. I put on a durable, army green jacket, which I kept open, and a dark earth brown t-shirt underneath. I also put on a pair of carpenter style jeans, with a double layer of denim on each leg from my upper thigh to my ankle. I kept my black-and-white running shoes, since they had already proven durable.

I gave my old set of clothes and my Master uniform to the Dragonite that had brought my new set. "Thanks," I told him, "Tell Mom I said 'hi,' okay, Dragonite?"

He grunted in confirmation. I smiled at his response. Always a joker... He took off in a burst of speed. I let Sharpedo out to do a little soft training while waiting for the others to wake up.

"Alright, Sharpedo. Ice Fang," I said. Sharpedo's teeth glowed ice blue, and he chomped down in the water, on nothing in particular. As he did, the water around his mouth froze. I smiled, knowing how much potential he had. I suddenly had an idea, and my smile turned wicked. I stepped to the side, so Sharpedo was now facing the campsite, and covered my ears.

"Screech!" I ordered. Sharpedo realized what I was thinking, and smiled as well, complying with my command, letting loose a terrible screech that was so loud and powerful, the sound waves distorted the air around them.

Soon, several screams synchronized with Sharpedo's Screech, and my three human companions, as well as Eevee, Dunsparce, Furret, and Espurr ran out of their tents, still in their sleepwear. Yanma peeked his head out of his tent, looking for the source of the noise. He saw Sharpedo using Screech, and, his curiosity satisfied, went back in and fell asleep again.

When Sharpedo was done with Screech, I smiled and giggled like the little shit I am. "Good morniiiiiiiiiing, Vietnam!" I laughed. Rain was in a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants, while Chase wore his usual tank-top, sans camo jacket, and a pair of gym shorts, and Burns was damn near buck-ass nude, with only the stereotypical "comic-relief" heart-print boxers. "Clyden, hide your shame, man!"

"You fucking ASSHOLE!" Rain suddenly burst out. She marched over to me and started slapping my arm with each word she said. "What. Kind. Of. Person. Does. That. To. His. Friends?!" I couldn't help but giggle.

"That would be anyone with the last name 'Steinkreuz,' sweetie!"

We packed up, and headed up to Mr. Briney's place again. "Ye need a ride ta Dewford, ye say?" He asked, excited to go back to sea. "I'd be more n'happy ta help ye, kids! We set sail as soon as we can!"

It wasn't long before we were at sea. Rain had made a serious change to her wardrobe, as I had. She was wearing black jeans and a blue hoodie, like her first one, but lighter, with a small, bronze symbol over the left side of her chest. N-Not that I was looking at her chest, or anything. 'Yes, you were.'

Shut the fuck up. Anyway, I recognized the symbol. Most people did, because it was famous a few years ago. But I knew it better than most people. It was the symbol for the Atki Town Battlers' Club. A club of skilled trainers from my home town in the Agroama region. A club that formed a competitive battling team that was almost undefeatable. A club my dad helped to start. A club that drifted apart about seven or eight years ago.

"Alright, there, lad?" Mr. Briney asked. "Yer lookin' a bit uneasy. Ye want me te slow 'er up?"

"Huh? N-No, Mr. Briney, I was just thinking," I replied.

He laughed heartily. "Aye, Lad! Ain't much else te do at sea, I s'pose!" I smiled and nodded.

He might be a bit stranger than most, I thought. But he's definitely a wise old man. "Hey, Chase, Burns, when we get there, you guys wanna-" I looked over at them to see Carburn pulling out a fishing rod, and Chase using his breakfast to chum the water. "Uh, Burns? What're you doing?"

"I'm gonna catch myself a Slowbro!" He announced proudly. Rain and I started laughing wildly. "What's so funny?"

"Neither Slowpoke, nor Slowbro, exist in the wild in Hoenn!" Rain said, still laughing. "Even if they did, they're freshwater Pokémon!"

Burns turned red in embarrassment. "You guys suck..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Burns," I said swinging my arm around his shoulders, calming down. "Dewford Cave has tons of cool Pokémon! I'm sure you'll find one you like!" He smiled that same cocky smile he usually wore.

"You guys suck, but you make up for yourselves. To Dewford!"

"Yeah!"

"Vee!"

"Yeah!"

"Furr!"

"Sparce!"

"Yan!"

"Aye!"

"Gull!"

"SOMBODY GET ME OFF OF THIS THING! HURK-!"

We soon arrived in Dewford Town, and quickly got our seasick friend something to ease his stomach. Once he was well enough to walk, Carburn and he went to the Poké Center. Rain and I stuck back with Mr. Briney, talking to him about our travels.

"Ah, so yer from the Sinnoh region, Lass?" He asked Rain.

"Actually, I'm from a small subregion not far from the Agroama region. I originally went to Sinnoh to train under Candice, but she didn't have a spot open," Rain said.

I sighed reminiscently. "I miss Agroama..."

"You've been?"

"I'm from." She gasped excitedly.

"What town?!"

"... Atki Town." She let a small fangirlish squeal past her lips. "You a fan of the club?"

"Y-Yes... Have you met them..?"

"Think about my name for a second. Particularly my last name. 'Steinkreuz.' My dad helped found the club." Mr. Briney chuckled.

"This story's gettin' a little main-hero-centric, idn't it?"

To be continued...

Okay, this took sooooooo much longer than it should have. Sorry, y'all! I'm in college, so I won't be uploading very much. Hopefully, I can get chapter 8 up by Thanksgiving. Now read this part very carefully; The Agroama region is a region I made up, and is in no way canon in the Nintendo universe. So if Reggie or Masuda show up, run like Hell. Any and all towns, cities, and such that are mentioned in the Agroama region are just as made up. Here's a handy little guide.

Agroama (Ag·row·muh/Ag·row·mah): a region in the Northwestern hemisphere on the same continent as Unova and Orre. Based off of the American Midwest, mainly Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri. Best known for its expansive number of native Pokémon.

Atki Town (At·kee Town): A small town near the center of the Agroama region, often referred to as the 'starter town.' Made semi-famous by the Atki Town Battlers' Club founded by Jim "Jeepers" Steinkreuz, John Graye, Judd Kayler, Dave Herm, Ron Zeddle, and Bob Flosse. Hometown of George and Catie Steinkreuz.


End file.
